Just wrapped up this pass Wednesday ride on US 191 from Mexico to Canada. My starting point was Maryland, near DC on early morning of July 4th. Took a route through, West Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico and then on down to Douglas, Arizona. Rode for just under 3 days, over night in Alabama and Texas near Dallas . On that leg of the run, had one minor issue with exhaust bolts to the engine came off. Was near Abilene, Texas early morning when noticed. Pulled into the Harley shop, Kents HD. The place still officially closed but a group was doing a tear down of 4th activities. Long story short, they took the bike right in, met the owner and maybe an hour later was back on the road. Did i say, no charge wow that is Texas hospitality. Thank you to Kent's HD, excellent staff and very helpful people if you live in the Abilene then you already know that. Made my way into Douglas AZ, later that night stayed at the Gadsden hotel. Great ride west of El Paso on the interstate.

Gadsden hotel of Douglas Az, wonderful staff, owners great hotel with lots of history and is must see. Some say it is still haunted by Pancho Villa, lots of fine marble and stain glass windows... Stayed for two nights to get my butt back into shape and just rest up for the trip up US 191.

Monday the 9th, started the trip up to Canada via the highway. One of the big draws for me was riding Devils Hwy, which was call AZ 666 and is now officially US 191. For the most part AZ is two lane, for the most part it is all 2 lane traffic. Nice ride for the morning half then sky broke loose with a cold front moving through, heavy rain, hail and just a complete down pour for most that part of the ride. I had to stop, just too much for me with 25 mph turns and rain coming in side ways.

Next couple of days, was nice riding not too hot actually on the cooler side up to the south end of Yellowstone. Had a major issue, just north of Jackson over the pass still on hwy 191. Front tire picked up spike from I guess a logging truck, spike went through and stuck into the oil cooler. Wasn't going that fast, bike started dying and so pulled off and there I sat 65 miles south east of Idaho Falls. Called up HOG roadside assistance, got to say good things and all the call backs to check on me, closing in on 7pm so sort of out in the middle of now where. DId have a few people stop and offer assistance but on guy from the area by the name of Brodi, he stayed and placed his pickup behind the bike to block people from getting to close and just making sure I was good. Once the tow was on his way I sent him on home for his dinner. I carry bottle water and snack bars so I was good. Tow truck arrived, was sort of worried because a roll on showed up. Asked the driver if he knew what he was doing, I didnt think so but was impressed he did a great job with the tie downs and dropped the bike off at Teton HD of Idaho Falls. Another good shop, but had to wait for parts which was overnighted the next day. So three nights in Idaho, was more than my schedule called for and about 100 miles off course.

Back on the road again, and that cold front just seem to stall out over Montana, it was cold and I didnt bring enough cold weather gear for the low temps. Next four days, maybe got to the upper 60's till I made it back to the lower part of North Dakota. Back to the Montana ride, damm cold and got my first bird strike. His feathers were still implanted into the fairing when I got home. In addition to the cold ran into three days of high cross winds in Montana and along the Canadian Hwy 1, Trans-Canada Highway I think it was called. Anyways the last night in Montana was at Malta, about 50 miles south of the boarder. Nice place again, good food, hard working folks with good food.

So I completed my run, boarder to boarder, no issues with gas stations one extremely poor section of road for 191, detour of about 10 miles on I guess clay road. I hate clay and it was full of routs I did maybe 15mph, lots of cars behind me. I waved them to pass but nope they didn't, crap that was a white knuckle drive for sure for me on SGS with about a extra 80 pounds.

Few things about the ride, already said gas stations for the most part no issue. Speed in Canada, didn't see anything so i hit when I could due to wind 85-90 mph. I did have a few different types of socks for support and compression. I have to highly recommend the Moto-Skiveez compression socks, costly but yea long rides they are a must. I also tried the Cruiser Skiveez, kept me dry and I think they did help with my butt for the fist 300 miles of the day. By the way, average drive miles was about 600 per day except for the first and last day. Also had the Air Hawk, yep that was a big help too. Not my idea but read where on long rides this guy had sown into his blue jeans heat shields for keep his legs from getting hot. I could not find something like that so I had some ironing board cover for heat protection and had that sown into my lower half of the pants. I know sort of odd, but got to say it worked..... Not my idea read it someplace but yep use those pants all the time.

Way home, North and South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and home at Maryland

Let me see if I can attach a few pics from the travel, and one more thing completed off my list.

Spike in oil coolder


Malta Montana hotel


Douglas AZ, The Gadsden Hotel


Lower Utah.

 

Sounds like an awesome adventure, I,m sure many of us would love to do a border to border or coast to coast ride

Bucket list ride for many---good job---let,s see some more pics

Note: I lost my starter on a long trip once and the dealership took it right in and 4 hrs later back on the road[Fort Ann Harley] near Lake George

 

nice writeup, thanks

 

Dont recall, think it was on the northern side of Monument Valley


Green River, UT hitting the road early to make up for lost time
Thank you,

Last year i did coast to coast, MD to SF and then a southern route back home. West of Colorado I picked up HWY 50 and took that all the way into SF. That was fun and my first bucket list ride, second bucket ride was Mt Washington that was fun but also hit what was wet clay..... Water truck made the first run and cleaned the road, not knowing I hit the slop when it was still wet.

 

 

Sounds like an awesome trip. I'm glad you had the chance to make the ride. Thanks for sharing.

 

 

Nope not in Texas, hit that storm blown through in Northern AZ, hail, heavy down pours and high winds I am sure it was the same one.

 

 

Impressive achievement. iron butt fo sho!