Category Archives: Motorcycle Touring Trips

USA Midwest 2023 – Kick Stand Up T Minus 62 Days

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Trip was moved from 2022 to 2023

Originally scheduled to take place during the summer of 2022, my USA Midwest motorcycle trip begins on 1 September 2023. This will be the first long distance trip since I completed my USA South 2020 trip in October 2020. I did do two regional trips in 2021, one to Charlotte, NC in September and one to Myrtle Beach, SC in October. Dexter (my 2005 HD Ultra Classic) had a clutch cable issue on the Myrtle Beach trip that was not fixed until much later. The Charlotte trip was 685 miles roundtrip and the Myrtle Beach trip was 793 miles round trip for a combined total milage of 1,478 miles. For myself, even in non long distance trip years, that is very low mileage. 2021 was a planned off year for motorcycle trips to recover from the move from California to Georgia in the fall of 2020.

In 2022, I had ZERO miles on the motorcycle due to picking up a second part time job (Amazon warehouse) to help fund some projects that I was to impatient to wait to get done. After a year of working the 2nd part time gig, I had enough and quit (no time to do anything). So with my projects done (well mostly), The Midwest trip was greenlit for this year and I began securing the lodging, additional repairs for Dexter and other items for the trip in January 2023 (yes, I plan these trips out in advance (ask me where I am going in 2028 LOL)

USA Midwest 2023 – Trip Overview

Trip is planned to last 16 days starting on 1 September 2023 totaling about 4,800 miles round trip. Trip lodging will consist of both camping and motel stays (all pre-booked). States to be traveled through on this trip include Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Planned stops / destinations include Galesburg IL, Onawa IA, Sioux City IA, North Platte NE, Badlands SD, Black Hills SD, Powder River Basin WY, Devils Tower WY, Granite Falls MN, Renville MN, Wilmar MN, Twin Cities MN, and then back home near Atlanta GA. Many of the planned stops and destinations are railroad related which is another significant interest and hobby of mine (history and model railroading). Also, I will get to check off some states on my 50 states traveled by motorcycle bucket list. I have already rode in Georgia, Alabama, Minnesota, Iowa (however only along the Mississippi river), and Wisconsin. States receiving a check mark this trip will include Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming (after a failed attempt in 2019, but that is a story for another time).

More to come later…..probably, I am a very lazy and unreliable blogger 🙂

USA Midwest 2023 Planned Routes

USA Midwest 2023 – Part Two
USA Midwest 2023 – Part Three

USA South 2020 – Day 3 (Las Cruces, NM to Big Bend, TX)

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In August 2020, my wife and I purchased our home in Douglasville, Georgia (about 20 miles west of downtown Atlanta). As part of our relocation from Southern California to Georgia, I took the opportunity for another long distance motorcycle trip in fall of 2020.

This is day 3 of my USA South 2020 Motorcycle Trip riding from Las Cruces, NM to the Big Bend area along the Rio Grande in Texas. I camped two nights at the Grassy Banks Campground in Big Bend Ranch State Park (near Big Bend National Park). Much of the riding was on Interstate 10 from Las Cruces, through El Paso to Van Horn, TX getting off the Interstate onto US Highway 90, then US Highway 67, and finally onto Texas Farm to Market (FM) road 170.

Much of the scenery during the ride was that of desert shrub land characterized by Creosote flats, Yucca, and Cholla. I actually don’t mind riding in desert landscapes but will concede does not offer much for landscape videography. Being that I grew up in Minnesota, and have spent most of adult life in non-desert climates, I still find desert landscape to be intriguing. The landscape along the Rio Grand to include Big Bend however, is quite spectacular consisting of mountains, canyons, and desert and offered very entertaining riding on Texas FM 170.