Finished my trip. Total was 6537 miles. Longest day: 647.
Problems: Flushed coolant, replaced radiator cap and fan switch in Texas. Found out in Farmington NM I had a non-maintenance free battery - watered and charged it there. Had to put a new tire on it in Spokane - heat killed it. So nothing major.
There is too much to discuss to tell you about the whole trip. Here are the cliff notes:
Favorite roads that i rode:
WA/OR/CA: The 101 - not to be missed.
CA:
29 through wine country. In construction currently but super technical. Will be awesome when finished.
395 scenic and fun but not too challenging
190 through death valley - awesome, made my wife scream.
120 through Yosemite - beautiful and twisty - amazing.
NV: no good roads that I found. Did find heat and lots of it. 112F. Also I saw blue man group and got married in an Elvis chapel, so not a total waste.
AZ:
Old 66 from Kingman to Seligman. Scenic and nostalgic. Ran into the Tokyo HOG chapter there. They had rented Harleys in LA and where headed to Florida. We laughed about the irony of the fact they were on Harleys and we were on a Kawasaki. Cool stop.
64 through the Grand Canyon for obvious reasons.
NM:
64 was very scenic but not challenging.
104 from Las Vegas to Tucumcari was supposed to be great and it just sucked. Like 1/2 mile of twisties and the rest was crappy road, crosswinds and desert. We bailed soon and got in the interstate where I promptly overheated in 114 temps with a 40mph tailwind.
TX: The panhandle was very flat and very hot. Took pics and cadillac ranch and turned north before we melted.
CO: There are no bad roads in Colorado. I've decided.
12 from Trinidad to La Veta.
69 from Walsenburg to Cotopaxi.
50 from Coaldale to Salida.
285 from Salida to Buena Vista.
24 from Buena Vista to Vail.
40 from Empire to Granby.
125 from Granby to Walden.
WY: At first the only thing I that thought was in Wyoming was antelope and state patrolmen. 83 dollars later:
Get off I25 at exit 210. 387W to 59N to Gillette.
SD: The entire black hills area was awesome.
MT: Google maps told me to cut the corner from Sturgis to Hardin on Hwy 212. While not particularly challenging it was not bad and very beautiful. There were no other cars, just us, and the speed limit was 70. Definitely better than the interstate.
WA: Eastern WA sucked donkeys. 45 mph gusting crosswinds, dirt blowing across the road. I actually thought I was going to lose the bike going over the columbia river bridge at Vantage. WA annoys me period.
That was my trip in a nutshell. It was amazing. The upgraded suspension and custom (by me) seat really extended the range of the bike, specifically the pillion. We started out only making 50 miles between stops, but as I got the suspension dialed in (every stop the first three days I was tweaking on the bike) and we got more used to riding, our range improved. By the end we were routinely making 150 miles between stops. Also my wife said after this trip she is approving my proposal to become full time rver's because if she can survive living out of a 40 liter side case, a 35ft motor coach would be positively luxurious.