My Motorcycle

Above is a photo of the type of motorcycle I will be riding for the trip. It is a BMW R1200RT. I used a file photo I downloaded from the Internet because it looks so much cooler. My bike is actually a charcoal grey. I have added a backrest, a custom seat for those long miles and it will have several additional bags attached when I am fully loaded for the trip. I will post a picture of it when I have time to photograph it in a better location than my garage.

Tweaking the route

I have revised the route map to reflect the stops needed to do the Iron Butt. Upon reviewing the Iron Butt site I find that I qualify for the "National Parks Ride Silver" award. This is awarded to someone who is not only crazy enough to visit 25 states and 50 parks but also crazy enough to include Florida, Maine, California and Washington State in the destinations. The good news is Washington DC and the Canadian Provinces count as states. I wonder if you have to pass some kind of sanity test to cross the border into Canada?

I belong to a board where BMW riders discuss things like long distance touring and I have learned that a major theme with BMW riders is riding your motorcycle to your destination. One of the members had a sticker made up and pasted on his bike stating "If you see this bike on a trailer, it has been stolen". This pretty much sums up the prevailing attitude. The board has already given me numerous great ideas and cost me a substantial sum of money. Also, when I posted my intentions, I received numerous invitations to stop by for a cup of coffee. I'm thinking if this had been a Harley board, the invitation would have been for beer.

A little over five weeks and my 39th tax season will be under my belt...which is always a little tighter after three months of sitting behind a desk and eating everything I can get my hands on.

What's in a name?

Well it looks like I committed my first fauxpas by naming my Blog DicksLongRide. At least one of the people I gave the information to did a Google search using the words and was directed to numerous porno sites. She is now afraid of loosing her job if the network administrator at her place of employment sees where she has been. I wonder how many sites she visited before she realized they were not about my motorcycle trip.

I am posting a couple of pictures of previous motorcycle rides just to get me in the mood for the rest of tax season.

As a clarification the motorcycle I am sitting on with the side car is not mine. My friend Ted and I were riding in Southern Arizona when we came across this couple, both in their late 70s, that were traveling on this bike. We spent a hour just talking to them about their adventures. I had to have a photo of me on the bike.

Am I crazy or what?

For several years now I have had in mind doing an "epic" motorcycle trip. Several thoughts came to mind. Each of the lower 48 states, each of the lower 48 capitals, the perimeter of the US etc, but I thought that going to all of the national parks, historic sites etc sounded like fun until I found out there are over 300 of them. That's when I decided to limit it just to the national parks. Then, I decided to post my ideas on a motorcycle touring board to which I subscribe and one of the members reminded me that the Iron Butt Association http://www.ironbutt.com/ has a ride similar to the one that I was planning that will allow you membership. All you have to do is visit 50 national parks and monuments in at least 25 states in one year. Well what insane mileage junkie wouldn't want the honor and privilege of being a member of the Iron Butt Association? I added a few more parks, another country and my plans were complete.

I plan on leaving Florida around the middle of June in time to be in Brookville, Indiana for their bicentennial celebration the last week of June. After that, while the route is somewhat set, my schedule is flexible. My plan is to post daily while I am on the road, but I know that will never happen, so my hope is to post once every two or three days. I hope to have pictures, some short video and narrative of my exploits.

Since it is now smack dab in the middle of tax season, I still have a while to go before the beginning of my "excellent adventure" but having something to look forward to always makes tax season a little more bearable.

I will post more as time permits and additonal plans take shape.

The above map was prepared before I decided to add the Iron Butt ride. There will be a few more destinations added when I redo the route.