11,000 KMS Western Trip!

So this has been the longest trip I've taken to date. I take one long trip a year for the last 10 years and have been to almost every state and province in the US and Canada. This trip has been the best one I've taken. I bought a new NC700X in the spring and outfitted it with Honda luggage. The purpose of this post is to give other forum members information of what worked equipment wise and some of the cool places I visited so they can make the most from their trips. This will be a work in progress with lots of info and pics so I will post as time permits.

So here is the trip courtesy of Google maps. I couldn't fit it on one map because it was just too long.

Western Trip Part 1



Western Trip Part 2



I bought my 2014 Honda NC750X brand new from Winnipeg Sports and Leisure in Winnipeg Manitoba in the spring of 2014. I was one of the first in our area to get the 750. I saw it at the bike show and placed an order for one.

NC750X just after assembly.


Trip home


I fitted the Honda Luggage, Givi Bars, rad guard, fork protectors, centre stand, Seat Concepts seat, LED head light bulb and LED driving lights.


The equipment that I found a must for longer trip were the Oxford Heated grips, Seat Concepts seat with sheep skin cover, hard luggage and the LED driving lights to keep me safe. The things that I should have changed where the stock windscreen and I should have bought a better riding jacket and pants such Klim gear or Aerostich. It sucks to be wet and have to keep wiping bugs from your helmet.

Will continue tomorrow, bed time.

So my trip started from Kenora Ontario Canada on Sept. 2nd and the plan was to ride to Sturgis SD and take two days. I have never seen the Black Hills National forest.



Sorry but I don't know how to make the map show on the post so it's a link.

The first day I made it to Bismark ND. It was a pretty boring ride, nothing but prairie and it rained towards the end of the day. The bugs were terrible. I had to clean my faceshield every couple of hours.









One of the highlight of the two days across the prairie was coming out of the restaurant after lunch and seeing this in the parking lot. Wow!

Ford GT500



I thought at first it was a kit car but it was the real McCoy.


So the first two days were pretty boring. Strong headwinds resulted in the worst mpg I've seen on the NC. With highway speeds of 85mph and strong head wind mpg were down to 46. This is the longest trip I've taken on the NC750X and I was a little leery of taking a lower HP bike (my last bike being and FZ1) but the Honda turn out to be the most comfortable bike I've owned and the lack of hp was made up by the torquey motor.

After day two I was in Sturgis and the fun begins. More later.

I have been through Sturgis before but never stopped to check out the Black Hills National Forest. This is a real cool area and the breathtaking scenery was a surprise.



I rode from Sturgis down to Custer then the next morning visited Custer State Park which is a must see is visiting the area.

Pactola Reservoir







Also something I didn't expect, donkeys roaming free. At first I though they were wild but not sure if there is such a thing then I saw how friendly they were.



Lots of buffalo.


These weren't your typical Yellowstone park bissons. Once a year they round up a few of them and make them into buffalo burgers.

Custer State Park and the Needles Highway are amazing.





Gives you an idea how tight the tunnel was.





Needles Highway












The next couple of days where pretty boring. Back to prairie riding as I made my way down to Rocky Mountain National Park. More to come.

Keep the updates and pictures coming. I haven't made it up to the Dakotas yet, but they're on the list.

Thanks for the RR! I like pictures. Keep on posting and have safe travels!

I can't believe that yellow car, taking up two spaces as if he were special or something

Thank for the pics and RR !

So the next leg of my trip took me from Custer to Loveland. Not much to see, just more prairie but I would be at the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park for the morning start. It was a terrible ride with high winds, cold and rain.




In the morning I awoke to find a light drizzle and clouded over. I thought to myself this isn't going to be good for sightseeing but pushed on to the park entrance where I meet a nice lady at the park entrance. She told me that the weather was bad down "here" but and the higher elevation it was sunny and it would be a great day to sightsee. I was excited to say the least and boy was she right.



The weather had turned terrible and it started to rain but I pressed on. When the elevation increase and was above the clouds this is what opened up before me.





Up I climbed above the tree line and away from the rain. The nice thing about riding late in the season, no tourists. Very little traffic and I had the road to myself.





Top of the mountain. You can see the road in the distance and nobody on it. Perfect.








Happy NC




Weather coming in from the valley.


Snow


I rode the rest of the way to Steamboat Spring CO. After coming down from the mountains it started to rain again and by the time I stopped I was soaked. I was wearing gear that I had never been wet before in but the combination of heavy rain and high winds resulted in everything being wet. I managed to get one of the few rooms left at the Motel. The kind front desk lady gave my the penthouse sweet for the same price as the regular rooms. It was warm and dry and I was happy. I didn't know at the time but this would be the last rain I would see for the rest of the trip. Warm temps in the 80-90 range for the next week.

I scored this weird room but was happy to have it. Fold up bed, living room area and my choice of two bathrooms.


When planning my trip I never really planned it. I would decide the night before what I would like to see then pick a route away from the Interstate and stay on two lane highways as much as I could. The only Interstate travel was done to get across boring prairie as quickly as possible.

Next plan was to head north to Washington State. More to come.

So the plan was to ride from Steamboat Springs CO to Missoula MT and then head north from there. I was giving myself two day to complete this leg of the trip and didn't expect much in the way of scenery. I managed to avoid going through Salt Lake City and most of it was interstate.



This was a photo somewhere along the route but it wasn't on the interstate. I would try to avoid the 4 lane highway if at all possible. No traffic for miles.


This is the same spot as the top picture looking to my left. I had stopped for a break and while I was having a snack and some water I kept smelling this really bad odour. Could see anything then walked about 20 meters from the bike to find a dead dear.


Sorry not many pictures of the area. Just shrubs and straight boring highway so I never took very many pictures.

After Missoula MT things start to get interesting again. The plan was to ride to Okanogan WA along highway #20. The first part of #20 was just a paved secondary road with no shoulders and some great views.



Weather was fantastic and the NC750 was working perfect. The more I rode the bike the more I loved it. I was also very comfortable thanks to Seat Concepts and my sheep skin. I never had a sore bottom and every morning it was a delight to get back on it. The torque of the NC surprised me. I could put my throttle lock on traveling in 6th gear at 75mph and the bike could grunt though most hills without my intervention. The Honda luggage I bought worked very well and it was great to have a single key to open everything.





Start of the Cascade Mountains in the distance.




I arrived in Okanogan just before dark and had my first injury of the trip. I had lifted my visor to scratch my nose and some kind of bug found it's way to my eyeball. My eye immediately started watering and swelled up. After I stopped for the night I made my way to a pharmacy and purchased some eyedrops and a antihistamine. My wife suggested the antihistamine and it worked great to reduce the swelling. I was all better by morning.

More later.

Really enjoying all the great scenery pictures!

Awesome thread. Keep it coming!

Love the trip report , I travel the same way, no reservations not sure of which road to take just the direction I am heading. I had terrible mileage like you with the strong headwinds I encountered this summer on my trip . Probably would have been better to leave it in 5th gear. You need a Madstad I bet I didn't have a dozen face shield hits in my 9500 miles to Alaska. And yes I have found the same thing with rain gear, I need something better. Keep the reports coming.

what next said:

You need a Madstad I bet I didn't have a dozen face shield hits in my 9500 miles to Alaska. And yes I have found the same thing with rain gear, I need something better. Keep the reports coming.

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I've since rectified this with a Powerbronze windshield and Klim Latitude jacket and pants.

What map product are you using ? Like the Maps ... may want to go same way ...

For navigation I use my iPhone 5 in a lifeproof case and mount then use the garmin or TomTom app, I have both. I then bluetooth diection to my Senna along with music and phone calls. The map pics you see are snipped from google maps.

My next destination is along highway #20 though the Cascade Mountains to Whidbey Island.




Weather was great and the scenery of the Cascades was breathtaking. It doesn't get any better than this.











I stopped at a small lake and took a walk about on the beach.





The NC has been working great. No problems and the performance was better than expected. I've had quite a few bikes over the years and I think I'll be keeping this one for some time. If Honda decides to bring the DCT to Canada that would be the only reason I would consider a new bike at this point.



I highly recommend the get the aluminum Go Cruise. I've had other expensive cruise control devices and the Go Cruise works just as well.

I love the scenery, really do.

T

So it's been awhile since the last post, very busy at work so this will be a short one.

Some more pictures of the Cascades before I hit Whidbey Island.





The next set of photos are on Whidbey Island. There is a huge bridge that crosses over (Canoe Pass bridge) and that's the ocean below.









The next stop was the ferry crossing to get over to Port Townsend. I met a guy and his wife while waiting for the ferry riding they're BMW's. The guy was riding a big GS1200 and had fashioned up a dog crate that he had strapped to the back of the bike and carried around his black lab. The dog had a set of doggles, looked pretty cool. Sorry no pictures.

The ferry.





Leaving Whidbey Island. I remember the cost of the ferry being surprisingly cheap.





The crossing.



Container ship coming from Seattle.



The NCX safely aboard.





That's all for now, bed time.

Thanks for the photos. I grew up in the area. We used to take our boat to Deception pass and it always freaked me out to see the large whirpools near the boat which I asssume were created by the Salish Sea and Skagit Bay meeting at this point. Beautiful area!

SergeantChuck said:

Thanks for the photos. I grew up in the area. We used to take our boat to Deception pass and it always freaked me out to see the large whirlpools near the boat which I asssume were created by the Salish Sea and Skagit Bay meeting at this point. Beautiful area!

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Your a lucky man to have grown up in such a great riding area. When I retire I'll be moving out to the Vancouver area or the Okanogan area. It's such a great place to ride. I spend two week on vacation out west and with all the challenging roads and the NC and I seem like we're joined at the hip.

I do recall seeing the whirlpools and your right it's a little freaky. I had guessed to myself that it was the tides that were causing it.