Hey All!
Just sending an update, back from our first trip!
We didn't make it as far as we wanted....
We set out Friday night and took all highways, skipped the interstates, and were glad for it.
We made it to Sioux Falls, SD Saturday night. Then we got awful news...
My boyfriend, who we were to meet in Colorado, got in a crash on his way through Washington!
He hit a deer going about 45mph in the last two miles to his stop for the day. Somehow he managed to ride away with a bent up bike and a few scrapes and sizeable bruises. I'm a firm believer in AGAT, and so is he thank goodness. The damage could have been much worse if he was not in full gear as evidenced by the damage to his gear.
He had to sell his bike - '94 Suzuki Intruder - for what he could get for it and catch a plane home. My friend and I turned around and headed back home the next morning. As much as we wanted to make it our other destinations, I was pretty shaken and the trip just seemed to have met its end.
There's a happy end to this story however... what I thought was a terrible weekend turned around when I picked him up at the airport Monday morning.
He showed me all the souvenirs he got for me at his stops that reminded him of me.... and then... HE PROPOSED!
Turns out it was his plan to propose all along and that he was going to do so in Colorado when we met up, but we didn't quite make it there.
So all in all, a good trip.
Favorite and scariest parts of my own trip were:
US 52 through Iowa - beautiful, hilly, and curvy!
The big steel grate bridge over the Mississippi - really though I was going to lose it on that one!
Bug clouds! I was in the lead during the last of our trip to Dubuque and the sun went down before we got there. They were coming in my helmet and I was so covered with them whole bug bodies were falling off my clothes when we changed at the hotel!
The turkey vulture that decided to fly right in front of me at the last second. I locked eyes with the bugger and knew he was going to go for it. Literally missed him by a foot at windshield height.
First ride through the rain... I made it!
And of course, my beautiful bike! She did just fine for the over 1k miles we road together on the trip. Not too much vibration and no more saddlesore than I could really handle or expect.
Thanks for all the tips and advice that helped me get through this road trip safely!
Byrd