Day 4: Went to Horseman's Haven for breakfast and had more carne adovada. (Even got the Recipe). Washed the bikes and then went up Artist Road in Santa Fe to ride up to the ski basin again. This time we got it on video coming down. I'll try to get it edited and posted today. Doing laundry, packing, and giving the bikes a maintenance once-over, then we go to Frank & Rachel's for dinner. After dinner everyone is coming back to the hotel for a swim.

Day 2: 540 miles today. Beautiful morning in Pratt Kansas. Turns rough in Oklahoma - 40+ miles of 50 mph winds... gas mileage went from 47mpg to 29!
Dodged desert storms most of the day. When we hit Las Vegas, NM we hit a giant hailstorm. We pushed through it - it was about 4 miles deep with pea sized hail.
Just as darkness fell we hit another near Pecos wilderness outside of Santa Fe. Needless to say we were ready for rest when we arrived.

Day 3: Spent the day in Santa Fe. Met Frank for breakfast at Pasqual's downtown and walked the plaza. Toured the church of Loretto and took lots of pictures of the church staircase. Spiral staircase built with no nails and no supports. Amazing! Here is a link to more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loretto_Chapel

Went up to the ski basin - 16 miles of the curviest roads you have ever seen. Hoping to go back up tomorrow and get video of the ride.

Ended the day having dinner with Frank, Rachel, Lucas, Emily, Jesus and Lisa at La Choza - mmmm, Carne Adovada burrito!

Day 1 update

Day 1:Put just over 610 miles behind us and ended up in Pratt, KS. First 6 hours of the trip was wet and cold. Raining when we left home. Weather didn't break until we hit Kansas. Then it was smooth sailing.

Rained again last night but we seem to have a small break in the weather so we will have to head out soon. Just some small storms SW on the way to Santa Fe.
Not many pictures, only excitement was watching a car pass Jody only to slow down right in front of him... about a mile later the car swerves off of the road suddenly to avoid a "road gator". There was a piece of tire tread laying sideways across the whole lane of traffic. Jody was right behind and had to go into evasive maneuvers. Ended up clipping his boot heel as he swerved around it. No damage, no pain. Since I was following behind Jody I had more time to react and got out of the way.

Other than that lots of people have been coming up to talk to us. (Mostly motorcyclists.) So far they all really like Jody's basket design. The baskets have been great and handle really well.

Gas Prices: So far Iowa has been the most expensive... most places have been just a little less. Gas mileage has been great. Averaging between 43-47mpg fully loaded.

Well, that's all for today. I'll try to post more in Santa Fe.

T-minus 12 days and counting...

Spent a good portion of the weekend mounting my new hitch. Jody did a fantastic job with the fabrication. The paint looks great and you can hardly tell the hitch is there. Click the link for pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/dochavocus/BikeHitch?feat=directlink

I mounted the hitch on to the bike last night and got it wired in today. I wired in a Hoppy 46255 Powered Tail Light Converter kit. Basically it runs the trailer lights through this direct from the battery. This prevents any kind of short on the trailer from burning up wiring on the bike. This will also allow me to hook up to any kind of trailer. I don't have to worry if a trailer has regular lights or LED's.

I also took this opportunity to add in a fuse block and a ground bolt that I can use to add on electrical devices. I mounted the fuse block just under the left side cover on the bike. It is actually mounted on the door of the tool kit storage box. The tool kit storage box is now the home of my ground bolt and any wires I may need to access for repairs. This further isolates all of my wiring by giving each new dvice it's own dedicated fuse. (GPS/Cell phone chargers, etc.)

Jody gave me a basket for the back of the bike as well. He has already made a new basket for his bike. Gina and I took it for a ride tonight... I think she hates the look of the basket, but the versatility is well worth it. It will be especially nice on our trip since now neither of us should have to pull a trailer. I was never too keen on the idea anyways. Trailers change your ride and cut your mileage considerably.

I picked up a new set of Frogg Toggs rain gear. They don't look like much but they are oversized so you can wear them over your leather jacket/pants and they come highly recommended. They are very light weight, take up very little room and come with thier own stuff sack.

Next weekend Jody and I will be getting together to try out a dry run with all of our gear and see how things sit on the bikes.

27 days and counting...

Just got back from Muscatine. Helped my buddy Jody build a hitch for the bike.
Fabrication is complete. Jody is going to sandblast and paint the parts over the next couple of weeks. This will give me a chance to get the wiring ready.
He also has 2 cargo baskets that will slide into the hitch recievers. This will allow us to travel without having to take a trailer on our trip.
Brian won't be able to go on the trip. Problems getting time off at work. Jody, however, has committed to the trip. This means the trip has been extended to 12 days.

Check the website for pics of the hitch fabrication.

Preparations continue...

I have started moving items into the house to beign the initial stages of packing the bike for my trip.

It is my intentr to carry everything I will need on my bike so that I will not have to rely on one of the others trailers should something go wrong.

Right now it looks as if I will have 1 saddlebag for tools, gear, another to put my jacket and raingear into, and then a large backpack that will have all of my clothes, laptop, and camping gear.

Need to get everything packed-up and then start minimizing.

Doc Rogers - Feb 8, 2009 12:10 AM 

How does one begin to plan a major Motorcycle road trip? Most people will say plan to not plan anything... roll with the flow and take your time. I kind of like that idea. 
Eventually my friend Brian and I are planning on making it from Cedar Rapids, Iowa to Santa Fe, NM and back. We both have newer bikes and he currently has a bike trailer. As long as we use some common sense, storage should not be a problem. I hope to have this site flushed out before the trip so that during our travels I can upload content to keep friends and family aware of our progress.

Doc Rogers - Feb 8, 2009 12:15 AM

Went to the Dealership to look into a new rear tire today... was not impressed. $180 BEFORE labor. I will be looking for a better price elsewhere. (Dealer claims to pirce-match and guarantees to meet or beat lowest price).

Doc Rogers - Feb 23, 2009 10:48 PM 

Well the saga continues... picked-up a digital video camera on my birthday. (Thanks Bro). Seems to work pretty good. It is a Kodak Zi6 camera. 

Trip is tenatively scheduled for June. Things could change between now and then, especially since my wife and I are looking at houses. 
Brian has his bike hitch and a swivel adapter for his trailer. Progress is being made.

Doc Rogers - Feb 25, 2009 11:39 AM 

The more I look at spending $220 on a tire that will last about 8,000 miles, the more I am considering going to "The Dark Side". The Dark Side is where a rider puts a car tire on the back rim of his bike instead of a motorcycle tire. Car tires hold up much better and will last 40,000 miles or more. I have seen some really good web-sites on this topic and have to admit that I am intrigued. (Besides, some of those car tires look really cool on a bike!) 
For about 1/2 the price I should be able to get a tire that grips better in the rain/loose gravel, provides more tire to road surface contact and lasts 5 times as long. The trick will be finding someone to mount the tire. I will ask the dealer about this later on this week.

Doc Rogers - Mar 3, 2009 8:50 PM 

Found a shop that will mount a car tire on my bike rim. 
Pazour Motor Sports (319) 364-2611‎ 
2021 16th Ave SW 
Cedar Rapids, IA 52404 
Tim at Pazour said he would do it if I signed a waiver stating they were not liable... fair enough. I have it scheduled for Friday. 
The guys on the Darkside tell me the tire I chose should seal between 40-80lbs. I also have some Dyna Beads for balancing on the way as well. 
The tire I chose is a Wal-Mart 205/65/r15 Douglas from Wal-Mart. 45,000 mile tire for $50. Several people have recommended this tire for use on my bike. 
I fired up the bike tonight. I expected the battery to be dead as Dickens but to my suprise it turned over for more than a minute before the bike fired-up. Never did hook-up a battery tender to it this year an we had days where it was -31 degress (-52 with wind chill). Very happy. 
I also ordered my throat mics for the bike Sunday night. They should be here in a couple of weeks. They are coming from Singapore. Great reviews, I gues I'll find out soon enough.

Doc Rogers - May 1, 2009 10:33 AM 

Been awhile since I've been here. Lots going on. Ended up getting a different tire. BF Goodrich Touring tire. - Better reviews, higher speed rating and better water tread.
First, Tim at Pazour flaked out and refused to mount the car tire. After looking at the bike and the tire in the parking lot he said. "I'm not putting that on, it will never fit." I assured him that it would and that I had all of the specs and if he would just put it on the rack I would pay him for his time. - Again he refused and said "That's just a lawsuit waiting to happen, it's waste of my time."
You mean like the way you wasted my time by agreeing to mount the tire before I bought it?
You mean like wasting my time and the time of my friend on a 30 degree day when I had to ride the bike to your shop and my friend had to follow me with the tire at 7:30 in the morning waste of my time?
What a douche!
Ends-up VIP custom cycles mounted my tire. (319)265-8477 1870 McLeod Pl NE Suite A - Cedar Rapids, IA 52402 - Ask for Corey
They were quite a bit more expensive, and when questioned about this Cory responded - "Because we stand behind our work... if something is wrong we fix it, if we scratch your paint, we paint it."
Ends up he was true to his word. I mentioned that he might have to turn around some exhaust mounting bolts to keep them from rubbing on the wider car tire. The mechanic never got that message. After the tire was on I started getting marks on the sidewall of the tire from the bolts. I took it in for Corey to look at and all he said was "Guess we need to get you a new tire." 
They purchased the tire and mounted it for free. No fussing, no trying to get out of it. A shop that keeps their word. I will go back to them.

I did get my throat mics and have tried to test them. So far no good. The foam earplug/earphones suck. The short cord is nice but the sound quality is horrible. I just purchased another set of noise canceling ear buds and the sound quality and volume is MUCH better. I will try to test this again this weekend.

I got a RAM mount for my Nuvi 760 GPS. Mounts great to the bars. Used the GPS last weekend and it worked great but the battery only lasts a little over 2 hours. I have installed a power outlet and am ordering a new GPS cradle with power outlet. I expect it to arrive this weekend or early next week.

I got some big-ass saddle bags on the bike now. Should be great for the trip. Had to make a support bracket and modify the right bag to keep it off of the exhaust pipes.

I have a leather vest with 10 pockets and some leather conditioner on the way from leatherup.com. I was originally looking for a photographers vest, but really wanted something more durable. I need the pockets for things like the GPS, cell phone, camera, etc. when I get off of the bike. I think this will do the job.

Last weekend I rode over 425 miles with Brian as part of the Missing in America Project ride to Van Meter, IA. It was to escort 7 service men to their final resting site in the new Veterans cemetery. It was an honor to be a part of this ride. Thanks to Paul, for the invite. It was a beautiful day... over 80 degrees and sunny. Lots of wind though. (40mph+ at times) So it was a bit of an endurance contest as well. Good practice for our ride.
I will try to post a map and You Tube link later. - Check the website: http://sites.google.com/site/docsroadtrips/Home