The Plan for South Dakota

Yesterday I spent my last break mapping out the towns I plan to stop in for refueling.

In the western part of the country it isn't necessary to make such defined plans since towns are generally closer together, and when we traveled this route in our car last year, our range was more than three times that of the motorcycle. On a motorcycle, you really don't want to ride for more than two hours without a brief break anyway.

Since I recently learned exactly what the range is on my cruiser, it made planning the stops fairly easy. I'm refueling on the extremely conservative side since I don't know whether my highway mileage will be better due to the consistent RPMs or lower due to the extra gear, so I chose refueling points no more than 150 miles apart.

The first picture shows my overall trip with planned stops and the second picture shows the name of each point, with the details of the start and end addresses whited out for good measure.



If for some reason you can't see the second photo, the towns I plan to stop at, in order, are Cle' Elum, Wa, Ritzville, Wa, Kellogg, ID, Missoula, MT, Butte, MT, Livingston, MT, Billings, MT, Sheridan, WY, Moorcroft, WY.

From Moorcroft it should only be about 120 miles to Jon and Sheena's home.

According to Google Maps, the respective stop times should be about as follows:
A. Depart 3:00AM
B. 5:00
C. 7:00
D. 9:00
E. 10:45
F. 12:15
G. 1:45
H. 2:15
I. 4:00
J. 5:45
K. Arrive 7:30PM (8:30PM Mountain Time).

I actually expected the trip to end closer to 8:30 Pacific time, 9:30 Mountain, but for the most part, I usually beat any time estimated by Google Maps, so I'll just have to see how it turns out in the end.

I would love to be able to take more time on this trip, drive some backroad highways and make a couple of stops, but unfortunately this trip will have to be more business-like so that I can maximize visitation time.

I've been looking at JC Whitney's rain suits, I think I might get a lighter rainsuit for this trip and use that instead of my winter gear, since it will offer better rain protection and also take up less space in my saddlebags when I get into the desert. For warmth in the morning, I'll just wear long underwear pants and a sweater under my rain suit, since I need to bring a sweater anyway, this will save me even more space, and keep me relatively warm.

Since all of the states I'll travel through, except Wyoming oddly enough, have CPL reciprocity agreements with Washington State, I've also been considering a leather concealment vest from www.sportsmansguide.com. It's a good leather vest that I can use for riding any time, and it will help conceal whatever I take with me. Since Wyoming allows Open Carry, I'll just bring an extra hip holster with me for the three hundred miles I'll travel through the corner of their state.