Day 2 (Sunday, July 31)- Spencer, WV to Paducah, KY - 514 miles

Pretty uneventful day of riding the interstate slab!! More fun riding the sweeping/mountainous interstates of West Virginia than Kentucky! The further west I went the hotter it got and a few rain showers too. These were the type of rain shower where you can see the lighter sky up ahead, so I just kept going and would run out of each after a few miles. Just not worth it to stop and put the rain suit on! Felt good to get a little wet from the rain and then dry out in the heat from the sun! Made it to Paducah, Kentucky. Since it was so hot, I found myself thinking how nice it would be to have a cold beer when I got to my hotel. So after I checked in I ran over to a convenience store that even had a "Beer Cave" (boy was I excited!), BUT on the door was a big sign that read "No beer sales on Sunday". WOW, what a disappointment! I am sure someone thinks otherwise, BUT I just do not understand government laws that rule me as to when I can purchase something like a beer. I guess having laws from politicians like that helps me understand how we can be in such a mess with the current debt crisis! OK, don't want to get on that subject, back to the motorcycle trip!!

National Quilters Museum

So instead of sitting back in my hotel room drinking a beer, I took off on a self guided tour of downtown Paducah! Let me tell you, you just haven't lived until you have toured downtown Paducah!! Seriously, it is a neat little town on the Ohio river near where the Ohio meets the Mississippi river. Also, the National Quilt Museum is in Paducah. When I arrived at my hotel room, my "next door neighbor" came out and introduced himself. He and his wife are from San Antonio, TX and they came here for the wife to attend a quilting class at the museum for several days this week. He was playing golf! I had to go by and take a few pictures and pick up the museum brochures for my wife as she is a quilter too (looks like I may have to make another trip in the future with the wife back to Paducah too!!). There is a flood wall around Paducah to protect it from the Ohio river. Since the floodwall gates were all open, you could drive thru the floodwall and along the river. The river was very beautiful today.

Ohio River

Old stream train - Downtown Paducah

Well that is pretty much it for today. Tomorrow will be on to Nixa, MO. I plan to ride all the two lane scenic routes in southern Missouri so it should be a fun ride.

Day 1 (Saturday, July 30) - Powhatan, VA to Spencer, WV - 351 miles

Ready to ride this morning

This was my picture as I was leaving this morning. Taken by my wife! (Notice the guineas in the background that even came out to see me off!!)

McDonalds in Amherst, VA

 My first stop was at McDonalds in Amherst, VA for a cup of "senior" coffee. I always stop there for a break, as it is about 70 miles into the trip or about one hour of riding. Plus there is a story with this particular McDonalds that I always remember. I stopped at this McDonalds many years ago right near when I turned 50 and ordered a coffee. The clerk said that will be 25 cents and I said "a coffee has to be more than that" and she then said "but sir, that is the price of our senior coffee"! That was the first time that anyone gave me the "senior price" for something without me asking. That was when I realized that I was getting "old"!!

The cockpit

 BTW, here is the "cockpit" that I will be looking at for the next couple of weeks. I got it well equipped!!

Stream in WV

Great 351 miles of motorcycle riding today. Did about 75% two lane roads and 25% interstates. Of course even the interstates in West Virginia are fun to ride on (they are like high speed Blue Ridge Parkways)! As normal, about everywhere I stopped someone would ask me where I was from and where I going and want to talk about how hot it is!! Made several stops in the mountains to look at the beautiful streams.

DINNER!

The cook!!

Made it to my destination and had a wonderful home cooked dinner with family!!

I am heading out!!

Will be leaving in just a few minutes!! Looks like great sunny weather all morning with a less than 50% chance of rain out in the mountains of West Virginia. Next update should be this evening. I plan to be in Spencer, WV. Hopefully my "real time" map will work with my Spot satellite communicator today.

Final preparations & past trips

Getting the final preparations done this week. Changed the oil in the Ultra yesterday myself. Expect to do around 6,000 miles on this trip so I will still have to stop and have the oil changed on the road somewhere before I get back. I have my "pack list" completed and just have to put everything in the bags and "check it" off on the pack list! I have "tested" the new Dunlop E3 tires this week doing about 250 miles locally. They seem to ride very good and do better on grooved pavement and tar snakes than the stock Dunlop 402s did. Hope to see some good mileage on them now!

This will be my fourth trip to the Colorado/Utah/Arizona area on my motorcycle:

Death Valley, CA

The first trip was in 2006 when I did a cross USA trip with two other friends (David & Keith). We shipped our bikes to Los Angeles, CA then flew out and picked our bikes up. We traveled the Pacific coast highway up to San Fransisco, across the Golden Gate Bridge, thru Yosemite, thru Death Valley, over to Las Vegas, Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde and on back to Virginia. One friend, David, had his stator go out on his bike in San Jose, CA. That was a story in itself getting it fixed on a Sunday!  I also got a call somewhere around Grand Canyon that my Dad was in the hospital and was not expected to live. I did not fully complete the trip with David & Keith as I headed on to visit my Dad once we got back to West Virginia. He did pass away in a few days.

Mt. St. Helens, WA

The second trip was in 2007 when I and another friend (Keith) shipped our bikes to Rapid City, SD for Sturgis bike week. I had already gone one time solo out to Sturgis in 2005. After Sturgis we went on to do Beartooth Pass, Glacier NP, Mt. Ranier NP, Mt St. Helens, NP, Columbia River Gorge, Snake River Canyon, Zion NP, Bryce NP, Cathedral NP, Arches NP, Rocky Mt NP and on back to Virginia. That was quite a trip with both a lot of miles and great places to visit on a motorcycle.

Hill City, SD

Independence Pass, CO

The third trip was in 2009. I rode out to Sturgis and met up with friends Keith & Rae. We spent a few days at the Sturgis bike rally and they had to head on back to Virginia for work. Another friend (Joe) had shipped his bike to Denver and was flying out to pick it up and meet me in Denver. I headed over into Wyoming and toured the Snowy Range Pass near Laramie and then met Joe in Denver. Joe's Power Commander went out on him at the very top of Lookout Mt. That was story in itself too! We toured a lot in Colorado & Utah that trip; Idaho Springs, Mt. Evans, Independence Pass (and a lot of other passes!!), Mesa Verde NP, Black Canyon NP, Million Dollar Highway,  Moab, Canyonlands NP, Moki Dugway, Natural Bridges NP, Mounment Valley and great places to eat (Mexican Hat Lodge with the swingin grill and Ted's Tacos made of frybread in Mancos)! Joe went back to Denver to have his bike shipped back and he flew back to Virginia. I rode back again to Virginia.

1. So this will be my fourth trip and first totally solo out to the Colorado/Utah area. The story continues........

Visited States & Provinces by motorcycle

My present visited US states map

My expected visited US states map after this Out West trip

My present visited Canada provinces map

After this "Out West" trip, I expect to have only 6 US states left to have ridden my motorcycle in (Hawaii, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan and Wisconsin). I do expect to pick 5 of these up on some future trip! Don't expect I will ever ride my own motorcycle in Hawaii!! Doubt I will ever ride in the remaining Canadian Provinces either!!

Overall "rough" Trip Map

Here is my overall "rough" trip map. Total miles will be around 6,000 miles & take at least 15 days (I normally plan for an average of 400 miles/day). I will "tweak" the route as I go, for example, I don't really plan to go though Dallas, TX on the return trip!! I will probably also come back through North Carolina and may go to Wilmington, NC too.

Links

Here is the link to the picasa site that I use to put all my motorcycle trip pics and will be adding all the pics from the 2011 "Out West" trip as I go:

https://picasaweb.google.com/powhatanfarm


Here is the link to my old blog that I used last year on my Alaska trip:

http://jimultra.wordpress.com/


Also, if you want to access the SPOT tracking map directly, here is the link to it:

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0kMunsACPTbfDRExG6gSG1UqlLeSqmf0V

Getting ready to head Out West!

Getting everything ready to head Out West on Saturday, July 30. Got new tires put on the 07 Ultra this week along with a 10,000 mile maintenance. Seems to be running great. I may take it out on the road for a few miles today since it is forecast to be 104 degrees here in Richmond. I am sure I will hit that or more on my trip. Put Dunlop Elite 3 tires on. (Bought them from Jake Wilson in Utah (http://www.jakewilson.com/), great prices and free shipping.) The first time I have tried those. Good reviews on both ride and mileage, so looking forward to trying them out. I am also getting "myself" ready by "leaning out" some. I am down to 194 pounds this morning. Should make me feel better riding for long periods, get better gas mileage and give me a little more "leeway" on eating some good road food along the way!! hehe!! Also, in the interest of trying to stay a little cooler and get less sun on the old arms, I plan to wear a light T shirt with a Columbia long sleeve "fishing shirt" while I am on the motorcycle. The sun is very powerful especially in the higher elevations of Colorado so I am hopeful this will be both comfortable and better for my skin. Will let you know how that works.

Still planning the trip route (regardless of my planning I always take some last minute roads for the variety or a needed detour). Looks like I will ride at least 6,000 miles. Heading out through West Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Utah and Arizona. Will visit some friends and relatives along the way too in Spencer, WV, Nixa, MO and Colorado Springs, CO. Plan to start heading back once I reach the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Plan to come back through New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee & North Carolina! Will be the first time I have ridden my motorcycle in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, so I can "check those off my list"!! May ride the Natchez Trace Parkway back. Looks like a fun road, similar to the Blue Ridge Parkway. It runs for over 440 miles from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee with no commercial traffic and a speed limit of 50 mph. I have some places and roads to ride in Colorado that I have missed on past trips. (Grand Mesa, Colorado National Monument, Telluride, Naturita).


Also, I want to ride in Utah from Blanding to Hanksville, to Torrey, to Escalante, to Tropic, to Kanab. Did most of this Utah route in 2007 and it was great. (One of the pics from 2007 on the left.)






Well that's it for now. More preparations over the next week!!

Notice the second page tab above. Clicking on that should bring up a Google map that will show my current (within 10-20 minutes) location as I am heading down the road. This is working with my Spot GPS satellite communicator that I bought for my Alaska trip last year. You should be able to "keep track of me" with the map!!