2nd long trip on the DN-01

[jdunker]

Day 1 - 08/09, Chelsea AL
Pulled out of the driveway at 7:05 AM, the sun was shining and the humidity was rising. I took 20/59 to Tuscaloosa and then jumped on US 82. Made the Mississippi state line at 9:00 AM. Pretty much non-eventful until I got to Crossett. Thankfully I was watching the Cadillac that was in the right lane in front of me. Just as I got to her back door on the driver side she swerved into the left lane. I hit the break and laid on my horn,but it had no effect on her. She acted like I wasn't there. I pulled up beside her at the next red light and she raises her hands like 'what did I do'. I got as far away from her as I could when the light turned green. I was making good time until I missed a sign around the Magnolia, Arkansas area. After enjoying a little detour and some back country roads, I got back on US 82 and made it into Texarkana, Texas without any more incidents. Continuing on US 82, I made it to the west side of Clarksville, TX when I saw the dark clouds in front of me. About the time I thought of pulling over and putting my rain gear on, I saw the lightening. I was looking for any cover, but there wasn't anything around. I was in the middle of farm land with nothing growing more than two feet off the ground and lightening flashing all around me. Then the rain hit. I wasn't in it for long, but it came down hard enough to get me soaked. I was a few miles outside of Paris, TX when I pulled into a Sonic for cover. With the clouds in front of me looking even worse than what I just road through, I decided to eat and try to wait it out. It was 6 PM when I stopped and I waited for almost an hour before I decided to make a run for a hotel that was less than 3 miles down the road. At the end of the day, I made it 607 miles. I wanted to get a little further, but the weather decided my day was over.

 

[jdunker]

Day 2 - 08/10
The day started out dressed in rain gear. Every time I took it off because it looked like clear skies ahead, within a hour or so I'd run into another storm. I had thought the size and volume of bugs hitting my helmet while I traveled through Mississippi was crazy. That was before I rode through Texas. It felt like someone was standing on the side of the road throwing rocks at me. Today was the closest time that I've ever come to running out of gas. I went through Amarillo and thought I had plenty of gas to make it to the next town, although I hadn't looked at the map to know how far the next town was. After riding for a while through what felt like the middle of no where, I checked the GPS for the next gas station. It told me to turn around and ride 20 miles back toward Amarillo. Not being one that likes to back track, I decided to go for the one that was 32 miles ahead. It took 3.85 gallons to fill up. I was a little more attentive to the gas situation for the rest of the day. I was about 45 miles from Trinidad, Colorado when I saw the next storm in the distance. When I got close, I pulled over and put my rain gear on for the third time today. It looked like a small fast moving storm on the radar, so I didn't put my foot covers on. Thankfully I put my GPS away since I was so close and wouldn't need it any more for the day. When I hit the edge of the storm between Clayton and Raton New Mexico it wasn't bad, but within a matter of minutes the temperature dropped what felt like 30 degrees and it started to hail. Before I could get slowed down and pulled off to the side of the road, the hail got large and pummeled my hands. I sat on the side of the road bent over the gas tank trying to protect my arms and hands as the hail pounded by back. By the time it let up, my shoes were full of water and my hands were trobbing. When I got to Trinidad, I could see another storm over the mountains so it was another night in a hotel and no camping. I ended the day after 647 miles and some very bruised hands.

 

[jdunker]

Day 3 - 08/11
Woke this morning with my hands black and blue and swollen, but on a good note the sun was out. I was on the road by 7 AM heading up I25 toward Walsenburg, Colorado. I was almost to the Great Sand Dunes National Park before the temperature started to move up into the 70's. I really enjoyed that park and could have spent the entire day there. After leaving there and heading toward Durango, I hit another storm as soon as I got to the mountains and the temperature dropped. By the time I got to a lower elevation, the rain stopped and the temperature rose again so I stripped off the rain gear. Before I got to Durango, the rain hit again. As soon as I pulled into town, I checked the forecast for Silverton, Ouray, Telluride and Grand Junction. With at least 50% chance of rain for the next couple of days, I decided to change my plans and not worry about any more site seeing. Rather than stay in Durango, I continued on and rode most of the million dollar highway in the rain. I stopped for the night in Ouray. With the skies looking it might rain at any moment, it was another night of not camping and staying in a hotel.

 

[jdunker]

Day 4 - 08/12
At breakfast I talked with the owner of the hotel and she suggested a couple of alternatives to get to Grand Junction. After I get home I need to find the address for that hotel and send her a thank you note. I left Ouray and back tracked to the top of Red Mountain Pass since the previous day's weather didn't provide much as far as views. The view on highway 550 going back into Ouray is beautiful. I traveled up highway 550 to Ridgeway and hung a left onto Highway 62. The hung a right onto highway 145. The road and scenery were one of the best I've been on so far this trip. I managed to just miss all of the rain traveling this route, but it wasn't far behind me. Once I got to Grand Junction and had lunch, I decided to head toward Vernal Utah. I only made it a short distance up highway 139 when I saw a sign for Highline State Park. Since I was bound and determined that I was going to do some camping on this trip, I stopped. It's a nice little park and it's quiet and I managed to stay dry for the rest of the day and night.

 

[jdunker]

Day 5 - 08/13
Woke up early and was on the rode by 6:30 AM. I didn't make it more than 30 minutes before I had to put my rain gear on. After making it to Vernal, I hit highway 191 north. Another great road. The Flaming Gorge area is beautiful. I continued on 191 to just outside Jackson, WY where I was meeting my wife and daughter. Their flight was delayed, so they didn't get to Jackson until after it was dark so we'll have to do some sight seeing in the morning.

 

[jdunker]

Day 6 - 08/14
Spent a few hours driving around Jackson sight seeing in my wife's rental and did some hiking in Teton National Park and then hit the road toward Montana. Rather than go straight up from Jackson and into Yellowstone, we decided to take highway 22 into Idaho and drive up the west side of the Tetons into West Yellowstone. Once we hit West Yellowstone, the drive north on highway 191 is normally a beautiful ride, but we two different storms and I seriously thought about pulling over during both of the because the rain and wind were coming down with such force. Because I had to drive so slow through the two storms, it was after dark by the time we got to Helena, Montana.

 

[jdunker]

Day 7 - 08/15
The ride up to Glacier National Park seemed to take longer than expected, but that's probably because I had to stop a couple of times to either put my rain gear on or take it off. We got to our hotel in Kalispell, Montana to early to check in so we dropped off my motorcycle and took the rental into Glacier. The drive up Going To The Sun highway was rainy and foggy, but as we pulled into Logan Pass visitor center it cleared up a little so we got to hike a short distance on the Highline trail. We did a few other short hikes before we called it a day and headed for the hotel and dinner.

 

[jdunker]

Day 8 - 08/16
Spent the day hiking the Siyeh trail in Glacier. My wife and I can barely move, but our daughter is asking what's next. Oh to be 23 again. I'll post some pictures when I get home and can download them from my camera.

 

[jdunker]

Day 9 - 08/17
Drove back to Logan Pass and hiked the Hidden Lake trail. Absolutely nothing was visible from the overlook above the lake because the fog was extremely thick. We hiked down to the lake and we couldn't see more than 20 feet from shore due to the fog. After waiting 45 minutes and seeing no improvement in the fog, we hiked back to Logan Pass. By the time we ate lunch and got back to the hotel, it was five o'clock before I got back on the bike and headed toward my brother's house in Lincoln Montana. I was only on the rode for about 20 minutes before I had to stop and put my rain gear on again. Riding past Swan Lake, Seeley Lake and Salmon Lake down 83 south was really nice. By the time I had gotten to those lakes the rain had cleared up and I saw a number of camping sites that I would have loved to stop at had my brother not been expecting me.

 

[jdunker]

Day 10 - 08/18
Spent the day at my brother's house and watched him finish a knife order that he had to ship by the end of the week.

 

[jdunker]

Day 11 - 08/19
Hit the rode again headed toward Red Lodge Montana to ride the Beartooth highway. As soon as I got to Red Lodge, I had to put my rain gear on. IMHO the Wyoming side of the Beartooth Highway is nicer than the Montana side. From there I hit highway 296 to Cody WY and it was definitely one of the best rides of this trip. Once I got to Cody, I checked the weather they were calling for thundershowers so camping was out. I checked around for a hotel room and nothing was available, so I rode down highway 120 to Thermopolis WY to get a room for the night.

 

[jdunker]

Days 12-14 - 08/20-22
I got up in the morning with no real plans as far as a route other than heading south and east. About mid-morning I checked my phone to discover that my wife had sent me a text saying the AC was out in the house and also we had a water issue in the garage. So after checking the map on my phone, I began figuring out the quickest way home. I made it as far as Goodland Kansas and spent the night at a KOA. Even with all of the rain I hit on this trip, I can say the next day I spent traveling through Kansas was the worst for the whole trip. Temperatures hit 100 and the wind was unrelenting. It was like someone held a blow dryer in my face all day. In Pratt Kansas I discovered that I had some cracks in my back tire, so I had to make a stop in Wichita to have a new tire put on (the shop was extremely nice and worked me in so I could get on the road again). I made it into Oklahoma before I stopped for the night. I was on the road by 7:30 AM the next morning and was determined to make it home. I covered 677 miles on the last day and arrived home (Birmingham AL) at 9:15 PM. Total for the trip was 5382 miles.

 

[zebra03]

WOW

That was a lot of miles in a short time . Hope everything was OK at home .

 

[DrHook]

Thanks

Thank you jdunker, for sharing your trip with us. For a few days there were 2 DN-01's in Montana. I am in Missoula.

Like Zebra3, I too hope everything is well at home.

If you have a moment, please share any tips or tricks you have regarding the DN-01 as a long distance cruiser. Judging by your previous posts I searched, a backrest may have been a necessity?

Thanks again,

Dan

 

[zebra03]

AS much as I love my bike , 677 miles in one day seems like torture . I did over 300 one night and it about killed me . LOL

 

[Gizmo]

AS much as I love my bike , 677 miles in one day seems like torture . I did over 300 one night and it about killed me . LOL

I "think" he was a "little" motivate to get home QUICK! I probably would have done the same!

 

[Pebbles]

Great trip report! Too bad you had to hurry home and hope things worked out okay.
Just realized you were extremely lucky to find a shop with a tire on hand to fit. Pebbles has had to wait a couple times for replacement tires on back order.

 

[jdunker]

Had a new AC unit put in yesterday. Nice to have a cool house again. Thanks for all the comments.

Doing anything over 100 miles for me requires a backrest. That was the first thing I did after purchasing the bike last August. I did the same trip four years ago on a different bike (same destination different route) and I can honestly say the DN-01 was much more comfortable as far as my neck, shoulders and back. Even after some long days, I suffered no fatigue with my neck, shoulders or back. As far as my butt, that's another story. The seat did not do as well as I had hoped. Thankfully I found someone's suggestions (I don't remember if it was on this website or not) about some butt exercises and that seemed to help on my longer days. I may have to look at replacing the stock seat with something else.

I'm just about done editing my pictures, so I should have some to post this weekend.

 

[jdunker]

Pebbles,

The first two shops I called did not have a tire in stock but said they could get one the next day. The third shop had one in stock and was 80 miles from where I was sitting. When I arrived at the shop, the belt was showing thru on one area of the tire so I considered myself very lucky to make it there with no issues. I had been watching the back tire the whole trip because I had about 3000 on it when I left. It appeared to hold up fine on the trip out, but once I left my brother's place in Lincoln MT for the return trip it seemed to go really fast after that point.

 

[jdunker]

Chief Joseph Scenic Highway