New adventures in Planning Madness

And if you can make any sense out of that title, you're doing better than I am.

I started another blog ("Another one!?  What are you thinking?") in an effort to do two things: 1) Keep track of my preparations for my motorcycle trip this year and 2) to have some guidelines of all the preparations and supplies needed in case I decide to try this lunacy again in the years hence.

It also helps me sort things through.  When I first decided to go on this trip to the Beartooth Highway, I didn't really have all of the logistics in my head.  Mostly what I was thinking, if I was really thinking at all ("How is that different than normal?"  Shut up, brain), was how cool it would be to ride across country and see the Rocky Mountains; logistics, planning, and all of the "boring" aspects didn't really enter my head until I started actually looking at the map and how long it would take to get there.  It was shortly thereafter that I figured two weeks worth of vacation would be plenty of time to see the multiple locations I wanted to visit (Seriously, trying to go down the Blue Ridge Parkway, then over to the Beartooth Highway, then around to the Utah Patchwork Highway in 14 days is doable, right?  Over 6,000 miles should be a cake walk!).  Given that I've never actually done this kind of thing before, and assuming I could ride 10+ hours a day, that seemed reasonable.

Then I received a jolt.  I decided during the summer to try and see exactly what I could handle on a motorcycle.  6 hours on an uncomfortable seat just about did me in.  I was sore for a day or so afterwards.  I knew then that I needed to change my thinking a little bit.

First off, I decided that such a trip should not be attempted by someone like me on an 800cc cruiser.  Not necessarily because the engine isn't up to the task, but because a bike that small would be challenging to deal with riding all day.  Secondly, having to quickly ride through areas without being able to really enjoy them didn't seem all that appealing, and I wanted to be able to savor this experience.  Thirdly, coming to grips with what would actually be required to pull this off smacked me upside the head when I roughly calculated just the cost for fuel alone.

In the end, I discarded every other location I had set for myself so that I could focus on the one place I really wanted to see.  I've dreamed of seeing the Rocky Mountains (I've seen them from the air, but that really doesn't count) and this has become part of that.  The fact that I want to do it on a motorcycle?  That, in my mind, seems to be a given.

As I mentioned to one of my friends, if it wasn't a challenge, it wouldn't be as rewarding an experience.  To quote one of my favorite movies, out of context, "if it was easy, everyone would do it.  Being hard is what makes it great."