Knocking Out the Last Two

Up until this point, I have ridden my motorcycle in every one of the 48 contiguous states (plus Alaska) with the exception of Oregon and Washington.  I plan to complete the goal of riding in every state except Hawaii in 2012.  Ken Wilson, a veteran of my rides over the last two years, has plans to join me.

The first part of the trip will be uneventful, as we will have to hop on the interstate and ride nearly 2250 miles over five or six days in order to get to the Columbia River Gorge, which runs along Oregons northern border with the state of Washington.  Then, it will 7 or eight days of riding some awesome motorcycling roads through some of the most beautiful places in our western states.  The last three or so days on the trip will be interstate again as we wrap things up and head for home.

We will visit the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington and the Hungry Horse Dam in Montana.  The Going to the Sun Road through Glacier National Park, which finally opened on June 18 after 35+ inches of snow that fell after Memorial Day, should prove to be a fantastic ride and I am hoping that much of that snow still blankets the slopes along the road as we pass through.  We'll stay in Montana to ride the famous Beartooth Highway, a route we took two years ago although this time we'll head over the 10,500 foot pass in the opposite direction we took back then.

From there, we will head into Cody, WY over the Chief Joseph Highway, a highly rated scenic byway.  After hanging out where Buffalo Bill Cody called home for a few hours, we head east on US-14 through the Bighorn Mountains in Wyoming.  The last of the scenic routes will take us into the Black Hills of South Dakota where we will enjoy some awesome roads without all of the crowds that the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally brings.

That is where to road trip really ends, although we will still need to hit the interstate for about 3 days until we arrive home.  There will be, hopefully, enough time to stop and vist the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee before I have to be back at the desk in my office later in July.

5300+ miles of smiles...