The Badlands
September 6th, 2023
Total Miles for day 6 was 253 miles starting at the Badlands Hotel & Campground in Interior, South Dakota. The highlight of today’s ride was rolling through the Badlands National Park offering up some stunning and rugged scenery. The day concludes near Keystone, South Dakota where I camp for two nights in the Black Hills at the Grizzly Creek Primitive Campground.
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North Platte, Nebraska to Interior, South Dakota
September 05, 2023
Today’s Miles = 286
USA Midwest 2023 Day 4 starts in Onawa, Iowa as I roll through town and north to Whiting, Iowa. From Whiting, I cross the Missouri river and south on US Highway 75 to Omaha, Nebraska and then end the day in North Platte, Nebraska, 368 miles for the day.
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Today, 11/08/2025, is my second mini ride of Bruce, 2025 Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250 Special, since I brought him home from Atlanta Harley-Davidson on October 17th, 2025. Today was another low mileage day of 78 miles.
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Today I rolled from Quincy, Illinois to Galesburg, Illinois to visit the Galesburg Railroad Museum. In addition to motorcycling, I have a strong interest in model railroading and railroads more broadly. Model railroading is my main hobby, though it sometimes gets less attention than motorcycles and other aspects of life. The limiting factor, as with most of us, is limited resources in time and money 😊
After visiting the Galesburg Railroad Museum I rolled west on US Highway 34 across the Mississippi River into Iowa skirting south of Des Moines then angled northwest on numerous back roads (a couple of which were loose gravel unpaved roads) to Onawa, Iowa where I stopped for the day, arriving well after sunset.
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On Day 2 of USA Midwest 2023, I depart Tower Rock campground and ride north near Saint Loust (east side of Mississippi river) and end the day in Qunicy, Illinois.
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Today, 10/25/2025, is my first mini ride of Bruce, 2025 Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250 Special, since I brought him home from Atlanta Harley-Davidson on October 17th, 2025. Only 66.1 miles (we will just call it 66 miles).
Continue readingAs stated in a post yesterday, Dexter was traded in for a new motorcycle on Friday October 17th, 2025 for a new (23 miles at time of purchase) 2025 Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250 Special. Today, October 18th, 2025 DeAndra named the new motorcycle Bruce. She had me fire it up as she walked around the bike and then stated “You can turn Bruce off now”. So, there we we have it, the sacred motorcycle naming ceremony has been completed LOL.
Bruce is the new bike’s name.
I think it has been about two years since I have updated anything on this blog or my YouTube channel. Quick update: I did complete my USA Midwest 2023 trip successfully and it was fantastic. Then I began working two jobs again and did so all the way to June 2025. That is my excuse for neglecting this site and riding only about 200 miles since my 2023 Midwest trip to June 2025.
Tail of the Dragon
The weekend of 9/12/2025 – 9/14/2025 I did ride a fantastic weekend trip up in the North Carolina / Tennessee mountains and rode the Tail of the Dragon (and many other roads I think are more fun) with Dexter. A bit sketchy and rusty in the mountains as this was my first real riding of any kind in two years! I did put in about 600 miles on that Saturday alone though and the mojo was returning strong 🙂
Drop on Bell Mountain …Oooops lol
On the way back home in Georgia (I live a bit west of Atlanta) I went up to Bell Mountain and ended up dropping dexter on a stupid steep incline while conducting numerous dumb rider mistakes. It was not very dramatic as I was going slow, too slow and almost stalled on the very very steep climb up the mountain. The bike stopped and there I was perched on the steepest road I have ever been on (to include all of the mountains I been through out west and Colorado). With my rear brake engaged I attempted to throttle up and get moving but, the bike started rolling backward and I basically just bailed (fall over to the right.) Sounds and looked more dramatic than it actually was. I still ended up with a 130 mile tow back home as the drop snapped off my brake lever and there was no way I was going to be able to ride Dexter (just under 1000 pounds) down that ridiculous mountain road. I ordered a new lever and installed it less than a week afterward and have done some light local riding since.
Riding with DeAndra and a slow goodbye to Dexter
Today, 10/10/2025 DeAndra (my wife) and I did a short ride down to Newnan, GA for some lunch at Culvers. This has been the first time we have been able to 2-up ride since we moved from California in 2020. Today will also probably be the last time we can do so on Dexter. On 10/04/2025, I put a deposit down for a 2025 Harley Davidson Pan America and will be trading in Dexter as part of the deal. I am waiting for the motorcycle to be delivered to Atlanta Harley Davidson. If the deal works out as prescribed on 10/04/2025, I should be riding home on the ’25 Pan America (have to wait for DeAndra to name this bike lol) by Saturday 10/18/2025.
There will a be 2.5 year additional pause of any significant motorcycle trips other than to the Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee mountains and some riding local and into eastern Alabama (semi-local). First, I have to learn how to ride the new bike and get comfortable with it. Second, I need to configure, outfit and test the planned add-ons and upgrades. Three, I will be practicing off-pavement riding (nothing crazy, not looking at off road, just off pavement Think gravel roads, forest roads, etc and just being comfortable off road with an adventure bike.
And then……currently planned……Alaska 2028 Motorcycle Trip. OOOOH AAAAAH
Alaska 2028 Motorcycle Trip
As currently planned, would be starting the trip from Georgia on June 23, 2028 and wrap up back in Georgia on August 01, 2028. Will be riding with some camping and some hoteling, to Fairbanks, then Deadhorse via the Dalton Highway, then to Anchorage. My wife and son will be flying up to Anchorage from Atlanta for a week family vacation, then, I resume my motorcycle trip to include a tentative mini sidetrack to Telegraph Creek, BC (weather permitting) and then back to Georgia.
Total planned miles for Alaska 2028 Motorcycle Trip = 11,304
In the Meantime….
I believe I still have a few videos to upload from some of my riding in 2018, All days for the USA Midwest 2023 trip and the more recently the Tail of the Dragon trip. I plan to start posting again soon and once I get rolling again doing that, I will start posting videos. Of course, there will be some goodbye to Dexter and Hello to the yet to be named bike too. And of course, I actually need to start riding some more again lol…
Be back on here soonish……..Peace!!
Wanderlust Lyfe 