some killer thoughts here from EVERYONE, but I didn't see, or maybe missed, the most important one in my opinion.... set a route, including gas and food stops, and give it to someone at home or where you are headed, plus set up "I will call you at ______ time" and use them!

my daughter and I are doing a HUGE trip in two years, and we are not planning the actual roads we will use, until the night before, so like on Monday night we will route out Tuesdays trip, and then we will call the wife at home and give her the route and ETAs to various stops plus a nightly check in time of ______PM, and if she does not hear from us with in 2 hours of the call time, she can call state patrol/county sheriff where we where supposed to be and let them know we are MIA, so to speak, and our route. Plus we are carrying a SPOT LOCATOR (http://www.findmespot.com/en/) also, just incase.

keep it to like 500 miles a day or 8 hrs a day of saddle time will help make the trip more fun and less of a chore in my opinion, so figure out the trip will take X number of days, then add one more for comfort/breakdowns. I also carry a back up Visa/MC debit card with like 500 on it besides your trip money.... just in case!

I know alot of guys who just jump on the bike and go, and have had great trips with no problems, but I prefer to be somewhat prepared on LONG trips (over 1000 miles)

Either way you will have a blast, so DO IT!

 

Oh how I WISH that was possible...but I have responsibilities here. Most importantly a 13 year old son square in the midst of becoming the teenager my mother always cursed me with!

 

Fester,

Yeah the trip planing portion will be done, and check-ins will be arranged as well, since I know my self well enough to know that I will see an interesting detour, the plan will be the back bone, with definite asides. I heard amount the Spot Locater, and am very seriously considering it for safety in a "God-Forbid" emergency. My goal is to travel pretty lite, with some possible camping along the way - the camping gear seems like it will be second in price only to the sissy bar/rack I will need to add to the bike.

The thing that complicates it is since the WG is a 2010, there aren't many choices in the parts catalog, and I'd like to make the bar and rack easily convertible. Seems like I will have to wait for post-winter dealer meetings to get a greater range of mods, but we shall see.

Thanks for the words of wisdom, and the encouragement.

USMAMule

 

1. Pack your gear in waterproof containers.
2. Never allow your gas to say less than 50 miles once you are west of NE, or KS.
3. pack laundry for 1 week, then you do laundry, and take a down day on day 6 or 8.

 

Oh yeah, and this too...

 

sounds like a great idea to me.

check this thread
https://www.hdforums.com/forum/road-...-to-bring.html

ride as much as you can between now and then, try putting together a couple of 500 plus mile days. make sure your seat is gonna work for you. big plus one on the sissy bar with rack and t-bag, you can put another small bag on the rack, with the t-bag on the back seat it gives you a back rest, which will be huge if you make the ride with no windshield. enjoy the trip take lots of pics. if you need anymore riding when you get to the portland area let me know.