June 12: Final Posting for this Trip

It is Sunday June 12 and I am finally doing my final blog for this year's trip.

I arrived home on the morning of Thursday, June 9.  I spent Wednesday with my parents and took Dad and Mom out for dinner in honor of my dad's 83rd birthday and upcoming Father's day.  I left their place on Thursday morning and was home about 10:30.

The trip this year did not come off as planned due to the weather events; that is part of the adventure when riding motorcycle.  I still enjoyed some great roads (especially Hell's Canyon and the road north from Enterprise Oregon) along with many stretches of the Pacific Coast Highway, and numerous other back roads.  I have had great weather during my other trips and it just didn't work out so well this year.  I heard the same comment everywhere I went - "This is the coldest and wettest spring I remember".  In typical years, I would not have encountered the issues I did this year.  My conclusion is that it was the right time of year; just the wrong year.

It was a tough decision to cut the trip short and return home early as I was so looking forward to this trip.  However, with the weather conditions as they were, it was the safe and wise choice.  I could have found ways to ride in the states I wanted to, but the trips are not just about riding in certain states, but rather riding the "fun" roads and really experiencing the various things each state has to offer.  Because I was not able to accomplish this, coming home early was the right choice.

Here is the final snap shot of the route I did on this trip:

 Below are some statistics from the trip you may enjoy:
Total Days: 12
Total Miles: 6,338 (Over 6,000 miles in the first 10 days)
Total States Ridden In: 11
New States Ridden In: 5 (Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada)
Total Expenses: $964
Largest Expense: Gas, 55% of total expenses
Average Miles per Gallon: 45
Average cost per gallon of Gas: $3.88
Most miles in a day: Day 1 - 874 miles
Number of 700+ miles days: 3 (Day 1: 874, Day 10: 860, Day 9:  787)
States I Still Ridden In: 41 - 82% (see top photo)
States I Still Have Not Ridden In: 9 (see top photo)

I hope you enjoyed reading about and following my great western adventure!