8,647 Miles 23 states – AROUND the USA Down I 81, across southern and southwestern states, along western Pacific coast with many inland side trips, U.S.2 across northern states bordering Canada, along Great Lakes, Down through Michigan, then Ohio, PA, NY and home 21 days Left New Milford July 12 on my Harley , returned home August 2, 2011. Low Temperature: 40 degrees F, Mt. Rainier High Temperature 118 degrees F, Mojave Desert Transportation provided by: - The Incredible Machine: 2009 Harley Davidson Low Rider Twin Cam 96 cu in w/saddlebags, windshield and tour pack

 

Map of my route (clockwise from PA,) Around America the Beautiful.

HIGHLIGHTS (More or less in order experienced) Jack Daniels Distillery tour – Lynchburg, TN Thunderbird Harley Davidson, Albuquerque New Mexico Cross Continental Divide - New Mexico and Glacier National Park, Montana. Oak Creek Canyon and Sedona Arizona Mojave Desert – Arizona and CA Hoover Dam – Arizona/Nevada Sierra Nevada Mountains, California Rt. 395 Lassen Volcanic Nat’l Park, CA Sonora Pass 9628 ft. elevation, CA Whale and Calf, Pacific coast Klamath Glen, CA Mammoth Lakes and Lake Tahoe CA Redwood National Park, CA Coast Rogue and Umpqua Rivers, Oregon Crater Lake Nat’l Pk. Oregon Elk herd, Oregon Coast Highway 101 Columbia River Gorge, Astoria Bridge, Oregon and Washington. Mt. Rainier Nat’l Pk. Washington Wenatchee Mountains WA Banks Lake and Steamboat Rock, WA Grand Coulee Dam, WA Priest River Idaho Glacier Nat’l Pk. Montana Montana’s endless wheat fields Grizzly Bear very close - Yellowstone Nat’l Pk. Wyoming, Old Faithful, Boiling springs, Bison Oilfields, massive oil and gas drilling operations northwest North Dakota Route 2 across North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan Deluth MN and Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Mackinaw Bridge, Lakes Huron and Erie Virtually NO RAIN or storms (waited out rain showers twice, storms only after I was in a motel.)

The Harley Davidson performed flawlessly, despite being torture tested for hours on end in desert heat (110 to 118 degrees) and high altitude cold (Mt Rainer Snow covered 40 degrees, in the clouds and an undeserving mud bath at Glacier NP, also low 40’s, in the clouds. ) Longest mileage day:  592 miles - last day on way home. (MI,OH,PA,NY,PA) Lots of snow remaining in the mountains after the west/northwest experienced one of the longest and harshest winters in recent memory.  Two ski centers were still operating.  Mt. St. Helens area closed due to snow-covered roads and Crater Lake only opened its roads the day I got there.