In two weeks my GF and I are taking 5 weeks to cross the country and back. We're doing a giant clockwise loop. I planned the first week pretty closely. Leaving NYC and heading south to the Blue Ridge Parkway then over to Nashville and the Natchez Trace all the way down to Mississippi. A stop over with friends in Austin TX, and a stop in Roswell NM (where I get my picture taken in a tin foil hat). After that we're in the great Southwest and we make it up as we go along until we get to northern California. Back home across Idaho, Wyoming, and the Dakotas, through Wisconsin and the Michigan Upper Peninsula. From there either cut into Canada and reenter in Buffalo NY or drop down into Ohio and cut across Pennsylvania to New Jersey and New York. I'm figuring somewhere between 10 and 11K miles altogether.
This was the trip that spawned the idea for us to get a sidecar. We started out researching motorcycle pulled trailers and ended up getting a rig instead. The cost of most trailers was much higher than I had imagined, and the fact that they are mostly useless when not being towed vs the sidecar which is fun 100% of the time (if you have a bike you can dedicate as a tug) made the choice to go with a hack clear. That the sidecar is eccentric and quirky and makes everyone smile is even better. The hack is a 2010 Triumph Bonneville mated to a Cozy Rocket which I will mostly pilot and haul all our gear with. The GF will ride my 2012 Triumph Thruxton and not have to worry about carrying anything on her bike. Everything packs into waterproof bags that fit into the tub and two sets of 10 and 20 liter Kriega bags that strap down on the luggage rack. The days of stacking bungie corded duffle bags on the seat behind us are pretty much over!
I've wanted to cross the country on a bike since I was Jr High kid watching Then Came Bronson reruns in the early 70's . Some of my friends are saying I'm still not doing it on a bike, but I tend to disagree. I'll get a blog started and I'll put up a link to that and my FB page so you can follow us there and on here as well. We leave early in the morning on June 1st.
Sounds like a good time! Just curious though, does your clock run backwards?
That seems like a giant CLOCKWISE loop.
Chuck
Hookalatch - 5/16/2014 2:19 PM
Sounds like a good time! Just curious though, does your clock run backwards?
That seems like a giant CLOCKWISE loop.Chuck
God Damn! You're right! Now I have to go back and make sure I haven't been making a fool of myself all over the net and in countless emails and conversations! LOL
Actually the trip was originally planned for the late summer and fall and would have gone in other direction. The correct counter clockwise. Now the season is late spring and early summer and the direction was reversed to a clockwise loop starting off south instead of north.
I am an idiot sometimes ...
corrected!
Thank you Chuck!
Boudie,
If you come through Minneapolis please stop and see us. We have a guest room for weary sidecar travelers.
David,
First it always comes different as you second think.
Take some air into your plan.
In 88 I came back to Germany after 4 month, not 2 1/2, just to prepare my emigration instead of starting to work.
Last year we did 12.000km in the Ural+2000km in car in 9 weeks in stead of 7 weeks and 6.000km.
With the rig your shoulders ask for some slower pace and as slower you travel as more you see and enjoy.
The trip itself is the aim, not the final points.
Best wishes
Sven
Sounds like a fabulous trip. I'll be looking for more reports, especially as to how the Bonnie does as a tug. I've been thinking of hacking my 09 T100 but I'm hesitating as I all ready have a '99 BMW R1100 w/EZS sidecar. Just can't decide if having to rigs is good sense as I still enjoy carving canyons on the T100. Have a great trip.
Al, thank you for your kind offer. We'll see where the road takes us...
Peter, I agree, slow and steady wins the race! Our longest planned day is our "get as far as we can out of NYC day" and that's 380 miles, other days that follow are planned at just a 100-120 or so miles a day along the Blue Ridge. No iron butt kind of riding on this trip. I've done the 20 hours straight kind of thing when I young and stupid, now I'm not so young (stupid is still debatable). 😉
jk, our Bonnie is also a T100. The Cozy is a light car designed to mate with a 500cc Royal Enfield thumper, and the Bonnie is more than powerful enough to make a great tug. The AI and the airbox have been removed and it's running BC Sleepers. It rocks. I also have a '09 T100 (green and white) I caff'd before I bought the Thruxton so I understand the love of canyon carving. If I only had two bikes I'm not sure I'd hack both of them. Perhaps we could meet somewhere on the road as we make our way thru NorCal and southern Oregon.
Here's a link to my FB sidecar page. I'm looking forward to actually having my own content to put up on this trip rather borrowing stuff from all over the net like I've been doing all winter just to keep the page alive and interesting...
https://www.facebook.com/pages/NYC-Area-Sidecar-Owners/570528866349254
Bronson had a marvelous bike that could change from an XLCH to a sprint, to a two stroke engine dirt bike with a camouflaged engine, in just the change of a camera angle.
All versions of it sounded like an XLCH though.
WOW!!!
what a grand quest...
when you get to AUSTIN ask your friends to escort you/join you to THE SALT LICK BBQ in DRIFTWOOD
& make sure you leave room for the COBBLER W/ BLUEBELL ice cream on it
then, you will be just a hop skip n a jump from LUCKENBACH(saturday & sunday afternoons usually have live music)
a BUTLER MAPS, TEXAS HILL COUNTRY MAP will, then, guide you thru HILL COUNTRY, on your way west
http://www.butlermaps.com/Motorcycle-Road-Maps/15/Texas-Hill-Country-Map
as a matter of fact, you should give serious consideration to the whole of BUTLER MAPS offerings
they are made BY & FOR MOTORCYCLISTS
as you wind your way on west, BALMORHEA STATE PARK is a great stopping point
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/state-parks/balmorhea
the BIG BEND/FORT DAVIS area offers a plethora of sight seeing opportunities, as well
if you hurry, a call to our state visitor's bureau can get you a great resource, the TEXAS TRAVEL GUIDE
call, 1-800-888-8TEX, for your copy of the current issue, w/ an official state map
i could go on & on & on...
enjoy & SHINY SIDE UP
sw & CHILI, the wonder monkey(in training)
When you get in to Michigan give a shout, would love to tag-a-long for a mile or fifty.
85shadow - 5/19/2014 9:10 PM
When you get in to Michigan give a shout, would love to tag-a-long for a mile or fifty.
Awesome! I would estimate we'll be hitting Michigan sometime around the middle or end of the last week of June.
swoody126 - 5/18/2014 10:44 AM
WOW!!!
what a grand quest...
when you get to AUSTIN ask your friends to escort you/join you to THE SALT LICK BBQ in DRIFTWOOD
& make sure you leave room for the COBBLER W/ BLUEBELL ice cream on it
then, you will be just a hop skip n a jump from LUCKENBACH(saturday & sunday afternoons usually have live music)
a BUTLER MAPS, TEXAS HILL COUNTRY MAP will, then, guide you thru HILL COUNTRY, on your way west
http://www.butlermaps.com/Motorcycle-Road-Maps/15/Texas-Hill-Country-Map
as a matter of fact, you should give serious consideration to the whole of BUTLER MAPS offerings
they are made BY & FOR MOTORCYCLISTS
as you wind your way on west, BALMORHEA STATE PARK is a great stopping point
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/state-parks/balmorhea
the BIG BEND/FORT DAVIS area offers a plethora of sight seeing opportunities, as well
if you hurry, a call to our state visitor's bureau can get you a great resource, the TEXAS TRAVEL GUIDE
call, 1-800-888-8TEX, for your copy of the current issue, w/ an official state map
i could go on & on & on...
enjoy & SHINY SIDE UP
sw & CHILI, the wonder monkey(in training)
Wow swoody! Holy smokes dude! Did I ever mention I have an eating disorder? LOL 😉 BTW, I was wondering what a vegetarian eats in Texas. Probably nothing from some of the pictures of 72 ounce steaks people have been sending me. The map stuff is great and I will be getting the travel guide. It's a big state! It was always my habit to stop into visitor centers and get a free state map when I'm on the interstates. Smaller roads don't offer that. I'm deep into the info gathering and planning stages of this thing now. Thanks for all the tips.
Wow swoody! Holy smokes dude! Did I ever mention I have an eating disorder? LOL 😉 BTW, I was wondering what a vegetarian eats in Texas. Probably nothing from some of the pictures of 72 ounce steaks people have been sending me. The map stuff is great and I will be getting the travel guide. It's a big state! It was always my habit to stop into visitor centers and get a free state map when I'm on the interstates. Smaller roads don't offer that. I'm deep into the info gathering and planning stages of this thing now. Thanks for all the tips.
yes TEXAS is a big state
did you realize that EL PASO is closer to the PACIFIC OCEAN than to DALLAS?
sw & CHILI, the wonder monkey(in training)
