Thursday, March 06, 2008

Quiet Journey of 2008


And here we have it boys and girls. A rough map (from maps.google.com) for my planned quixotic journey. I will start in Las Vegas and ride the United States from there to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Places I plan to visit on my little journey include: Laughlin, NV; Flagstaff, AZ; Socorro, NM; Lubbock and Sherman, Texas; Ft. Smith, AR; Springfield, MO, my pseudo-home town, New Boston, IL; some Chicago suburbs; and Dayton, OH.


In all reality, there are only three places that I absolutely MUST go through. These are Sherman, Texas, New Boston, Illinois, and Kitty Hawk. All other places and routes will probably be flexible up to the time I ride on the actual road.


I look at that map and think to myself, 'Am I insane?' Maybe just a little. A certain amount of controlled insanity is required for any adventure.


I know cross-country trips have been taken before, and they are not terribly un-common in the world of motorcycling. Several members of Motorcycle Bloggers International ( http://www.mbiweb.org/) have taken, or plan to take similar rides. What is unique among all of them is the journey. We are all born, we all die, it's the journey that is unique.


Playing the part of Rocinante in my little adventure will be a challenging little steel horse known as a Honda Rebel. Not even 250ccs of engine and I plan on riding 3,300 some miles. Now that's unique.


Or is it? Lois Pyle rode a little Yamaha XT225 Serow from Anchorage, Alaska to Ushuaia, Argentina! I read of a fellow who rode a little Kawasaki Ninja 250 from the East coast to the West. I read of a person who rode a Rebel from Florida to Las Vegas. While not common, it can, and has been done.

It's all in the journey. More to come...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awesome! My first bike was a Rebel, and I rode that puppy about 2,000 miles the first summer I owned it.

Just make sure you have a better seat on it than the stock one it comes with...

I took an overnighter trip from Erie, PA to Ithaca, NY and back on it, and I wished I had a better seat.

RazorsEdge2112 said...

Hi Dan!
Yes, I like my little Reb. For me, it is perfect for commuting to work and taking little weekend road trips. Easy on gas, simple bike with nothing fancy, fairly inexpensive. Since January 1st, I have put a little over 2200 miles on it.

Yes, the seat. If I am in the saddle for more than an hour or so, my butt goes numb. For those of you who don't ride, a numb butt is not a lot of fun; especially the pins & needles as the tush wakes up again. I am going to shop for a different saddle or something that is a little better anyway. Also looking for a CrampBuster or something like that.