Time: 10 days
Distance: 4922 miles
So much amazing riding, but missed opportunities to visit friends. Normally my road trips are a mix of scenic riding and visiting folks that I do not see any other time; on this trip I was focused on the riding and missed some opportunities to visit people.
The Vision
On my first long road trip, I was worried about everything from where I would stay to running out of gas. At the time, I had plenty of riding on the Kingpin, so that was one aspect that was not a concern.
Since the Vision is new and focused on touring, a big focus was how it would perform: it was amazing. I’m really happy with the tweaks I have done and the one thing remaining is to do something about the grips: the Kingpin had comfort grips, but changing the Vision grips would mean losing the heating elements. Still trying to find the right solution.
Destinations
Yellowstone was amazing, but my favorite part was riding US-14 thru Bighorn National Forest.
I originally planed to turn south leaving Yellowstone, but because I started late and took longer to cover the distance, I had to drop that part of the trip. Even though I returned home a day early, that extra day would not be enough to include a southwest loop.
Looking back on the trip, there are several things I could have done differently, particularly visiting friends, but was just not where my head was at during the ride. Even with the missed opportunities, this was an amazing trip. I’ve been home for three days and would be ready to start another trip tomorrow, but have to go back normal life, at least for a little while.
Visuals
Ticket to Ride 