Over just under 3 weeks (June 21st to July 11th) I travelled from Chattanooga, TN to Metropolis IL, Branson MO, Dodge City KS, Colorado Springs CO, Winter Park CO, back to Colorado Springs (my buddy had a short out-patient surgery to reattach his bicep), on to Roswell NM, Blanchard OK, Camden AR, and finally back to Chattanooga. I spent several days at my friends houses in Colorado, and 2 nights in Metropolis, Branson, Dodge City, and Blanchard so I had a day to play tourist and spend some time with my family in Branson and Blanchard. I probably averaged about 350 miles per day on my riding days, but did pull close to 500 twice. While my bike is definitely not a touring machine (more like a cafe racer), by standing on the pegs and making frequent stops, along with an unrecommended daily dosage of Ibuprofen, I made it and had a blast doing so; even if my butt complained.
The title photo was taken by my Nephew in Oklahoma (and yes, it has inspired a gym membership and diet).
Metropolis Superman museum
Dodge City, KS
Deer in Colorado
Roswell
Saucy’s owner was staying at my hotel, cool car
Camden at the Rut
You look like a classy mother fucker in the title photo. Keep doing you brother.
Thanks, my ego needed that!
I don’t know anything about motorcycles, but you look cool as heck.
You’re awesome for saying that! Also, you should try it. It’s an addiction that will drain your bank account, but fill your soul. 🤣
Came to the comments just to say you look cool as fuck and am pleased to see folks beat me to it lol
Looks like a kick ass trip!
Thank you! Everyone here is too kind ☺️. It was a great trip and I can’t wait to do more, but hopefully by the time I’ve built the PTO to do so again I’ll have a proper touring bike LOL. My Triumph is the absolute perfect bike for riding to work, downtown, and being a hooligan carving mountain roads, which is 99% of my riding. But she is definitely not a comfortable touring bike.
What an amazing experience. I dream of taking a trip like this one day. So glad for you that you got to do it!
I wish for your dream to come true too! It really gave me the time away, on my own, doing what I love to reflect on things. Now I’m working out everyday and feeling 1000% better than when I left.
I have no clue how you look exactly like GRRM and nothing like GRRM at the same time. I have an urge to tell you to get back to writing.
He looks like a happier, alternate history GRRM who abandoned writing to travel the world.
Hopefully, I look like a much younger version… and I’ll finish Winds of Winter soon TM 🤣
Love the pannier setup, low and lean for cruising along! Looks like the dream setup for cafe cruisers, man, thanks for inspiration!
Thanks, I got them from Long Ride (all one word .com). They are really well built, but be sure to get the waterproof liner bags (have to buy separately) as waxed canvas isn’t entirely waterproof.
#triumphgang represent!
Thanks for sharing your pics and story.
Glad to be of service!
Crank that hog
So you’ve been to The Rut 🤣
Amazing machine!
Thanks, I’ve done a lot of work on her to make her mine. Nice to know others appreciate my design decisions.
How many hours a day do you ride on your trip?
I probably averaged about 8 hours per day, but a few were longer. Particularly leaving Colorado Springs around noon and heading to Taos NM. Got there around 9pm, but there were no hotel rooms due to the 4th of July. Went farther down the road, which was a mountain road, with a huge drop on my side and no guard rails, at night, and it was wet with several deer sightings; to Mora NM, still no rooms available. Ended up in Las Vegas NM (not the real one in Nevada) around 12:30am and finally got a room.
Motorcycle rides are the best gym&diet, I can forget to eat on my days out, but if you want to lose weight quicker and have fun, get a trail bike and get muddy!
Great idea, but my next bike is going to be a tourer as I promised my butt and back during the journey. 🤣
