38 day, 8,571 mile journey ends.

[mkmclm]

On 07-24-2015 at approximately 2:00pm my 38 day, 8,571 mile journey around America ended. It all started over three years ago when my good friend, Jody and I were shooting the breeze on a lazy weekend afternoon. We are next door neighbors. I had just recently wrote down my bucket list. # 1 on my list was to ride across America on motorcycles. I mentioned to him what was on my bucket list including my # 1 item. When he heard about me wanting to ride across America on motorcycles he enthusiastically replied "YES." That was the starting point my dream. We started by researching they type of motorcycles we would want for the trip. I have a 1929 Harley Davidson model J with a sidecar that I restored a few years back. Its a lot of fun to ride around town, but needless to say would not be able to make the trip around America. We came across the nc700x and were both immediately hooked. We researched other bikes, but always came back to nc700x. We did not buy the bikes right away, but they were always on our minds. We began talking about the route we would like to take. The trip originally was only going to be 2-3 weeks. We talked about what we wanted to see, do, experience and discover. The 2-3 weeks grew to almost 6 weeks by the time the trip came around. We finally purchased our bikes in February of 2013. From the first ride off the dealership lot we knew these were the right bikes for the trip. Before this point we had never ridden together. Even though Jody grew up motorcycling, he had not ridden in a very long time. By this point it was only a year and 1/2 before our journey began. We began taking Sunday afternoon rides together to get used to each others riding styles. Those Sunday afternoons turned into two overnight camping trips in the Summer or 2014 and a month before our trip began. The day had finally arrived. June 16th, 2015. We left our families and homes behind and set out on a journey across America. We had a pretty good route set and a decent idea of what our daily and total mileage would be for the trip. We thought we would ride through 15-18 states and ride around 6,000 miles. By the end of the trip we were way off!!! We traveled through 24 states and rode 8,571 miles. I will list them in order of travel later on. We rode through some of the most amazing landscapes we have ever seen (Yellowstone, The Painted Desert/Petrified Forest, the Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Yosemite etc…). We experienced the vast open plains of the midwest (Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa). We visited some of the great cities of our country (Omaha, Chicago, St. Louis, Louisville, Nashville, New Orleans, Austin, Albuquerque, Las Vegas etc…). We rode through countless great small towns that really epitomized the quintessential "Small town life." We experienced all sorts of weather (Pouring rain, 30 degree riding temps, 95 % humidity, 105 degree riding temps etc…). We also rode on some of the best motorcycle roads in the county in our opinion (Highway 50 through Nevada, Highway 26 through Wyoming, Highway 151 and Highway 20 through Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois, US-129 through North Carolina which is the tail of the dragon, Highway 60 in New Mexico, Highway 190 through Death Valley etc…). All in all it was an incredible journey with my good friend Jody. We learned a lot about ourselves and a lot about this beautiful county we live in. I truly believe it is the greatest county in the world.

States we rode through in order of travel from West to East and back West again:
1. California
2. Nevada
3. Utah
4. Idaho
5. Wyoming
6. Colorado
7. Kansas
8. Nebraska
9. Iowa
10. Illinois
11. Missouri
12. Kentucky
13. Tennessee
14. North Carolina
15. Georgia
16. Florida
17. Alabama
18. Mississippi
19. Louisiana
20. Texas
21. New Mexico
22. Arizona
23. Nevada
24. California

Motorcycle and Motorcycle accessories:
2013 Honda nc700x
Honda OEM saddle bags and top trunk
Michelin Pilot road 4 tires
Honda tall touring windscreen
Palmer Products windshield adjustor
Palmer Products GPS/accessory mounting bar
Montana 600 GPS with Tourtech lockable mount with electrical cradle
Barkbusters hand guards
Kaoko throttle lock
Puig rear fender/chain guard
clamp on style highway pegs
radiator guard
ROX 1 7/8" handlebar risers

Motorcycle riding gear:
Schuberth C3 pro helmet
Sena SMH 5 communication system
Joe Rocket Phoenix ION mesh reflective jacket
Rev'it Tornado mesh pants
Joe Rocket summer gloves
Gaerne "G" adventure boots
Moto skiveez padded under pants
Rev'it summer socks

Camping Equipment/Dry bag:
Wolfman expedition dry duffle bag (Medium)
Sea to Summit cinch bags
Redverz Atacama expedition motorcycle tent
Helinox chair one foldable camping chair
Laramie 20 degree sleeping bag
inflatable air mattress
Fenix CL20 tent light
GSI Outdoors Pinnacle Soloist cooking set
Ultra light backpacking canister stove
Mountain house dehydrated food pouches

 

[Old Can Ride]

Nice trip. Enjoyed the pictures. Now next year you can go to the east. And the year after that Alaska. Then you will have all 50 states! Figured you might need a new goal.

 

[mfabache]

Thanks for posting an awesome and inspiring trip. Great pix as well! I need to try this Dragon everyone is going on about.

 

[James59]

Fantastic achievement, well done. I am very jealous!

 

[OldJeff]

Awesome, a trip like that is on my bucket list as well. Thanks for the post!

 

[noj]

Great read , Im sure if you put your mind to it you could almost write a book about the trip, great photos but who took the photos of the both of you riding??

 

[what next]

That's what I call fun.

 

[mkmclm]

The picture of both of us riding was taken by a photographer set up on the side of the road on a portion of the tail of the dragon. The tail is only a 11 mile stretch of roadway and in that stretch was at least 3 different photographers on the side of the road. They all have big banners displaying their company website. I went to the websites and looked at my pictures they took. It was only $6 for a digital download.

 

[drdubb]

cool trip and cool way to go....

 

[vman1313]

AWESOME!!!! Thanks for posting.

 

[itlives]

Awesomely awesome trip! I would like to do it -duh, who wouldn't?

Where do you get the state flag stickers? I like that idea!

 

[Olythom]

Great project guys! Very cool to get something that big crossed off of the bucket lists! Good for you.

There was no mention of aftermarket seats but the seats (where they show up in pics) don't look stock. Are they stock, stock with pads, aftermarket, or ???
>Thom

 

[StratTuner]

Great Pictures. You two are amazing...

and I guess that settles the question "is the NC700x a touring bike?"...Yes, I would say it was.

 

[Ruggybuggy]

Post more pics and details. Posts like these help me decide where to visit on my next tour. Looked like an awsome ride!

 

[mkmclm]

I got the state flag stickers on Amazon. They were around $5.00. I had my original seat reupholstered by Parkland upholstery in Washington State. It has a lot more surface area and padding than the original seat. I also did the slope change on the seat that has been mentioned on this website.

 

[RideReady]

Awesome trip guys, thanks for sharing it! You mentioned you had highway pegs, which ones and where did you get them please? And I'm hitting the Tail of the Dragon for the first time in a few weeks, now I'm even more excited for it! Can. Not. Wait.

 

[vroomm]

Simply Awesome!! Thanks for sharing!!
Envious!!
(2 kids in College)

 

[Therapy]

Really nice.
I hope to take another trip before I die.
Thanks for the jolt.

I also want more details, like tools? and of course the seat thing. Heh. Jody did what to his?

 

[mkmclm]

Jody and I used 1 1/2 quick clamps with a clevis. We also used black rubber foot pegs. We attached the clamps to the down tubes just above the plastic bottom guard that covers the exhaust and radiator reservoir. Jody used a Corbin seat. We live 1/2 hour away from Corbin so he rode into the shop and had it custom shaped.

 

[mkmclm]

I brought basic tools to work on the bike. I also bought and took a tire repair kit with a pump. I put a pig tail with the correct connector on the battery to run that pump if we needed it. Fortunately we didn't. It fits very well in the front trunk. The same connector worked for the air pump we took to blow up our air mattresses.