Did an easy ride to Missoula. Week trip is over. Stopped by Colins shop. Dropped off the Harley rental. Got the XR’s back on the road after a year of sitting.

Week overview:
– 1600 miles
– 5 states
– 4 National parks
– 2 state parks
– 0 key lime pie found
– 0 breakdowns
– 0 close calls
– 0 bears seen
– 4 Bisen seen

Bike overview:
– I really liked it
– Ripping highway 90mph feels boss
– I never want to own a bike that heavy
– I def did like the Harley torque
– Would I consider buying a Harley someday now… I dunno, maybe.

Well, we made it to Montana. Long day of ripping highway. Caught a little rain but not bad. Didn’t really get wet.

Stopped in Dillon MT which is a little cowboy town Adam, Colin and I were in last August. Went into a cowboy store and met Aaron Buckley from the future.

Love the store, a ton of nice stuff. Kendra and I picked up a couple things. Owners Dan and his wife Julia told us about their business and how they’ve been making custom boots and cowboy gear forever in Dillon. We hung and waited out the rain. Drank some beers with them in the shop, told stories, then went to the bar down the street with them. Was a bunch of fun, they were super nice and hospitable.

Then parted ways and caught a great sunset on way to Butte.

Missoula tomorrow.

After 2 hours at Eagle Rider Ed finally got the insurance so we could leave. He is also the proud owner of a new Harley cut off.

The drive through Zion was incredible. Exceeded all expectations.

Grand Canyon was surprisingly underwhelming compared to everything else. Could be because I was dealing with a possibly broken finger though. Ed “accidentally” shut my finger in a metal window. Happened right after I beat him in Scrabble though, so “accident” is still up for debate.

Bryce Canyon- more amazing views. Every park in Utah gets better than the next.

Learned what a hoodoo is and saw a 1600 year old tree (Bristlecone Pine). Views from 9100 feet into the canyons. Ed was less impressed. Tired, hangry, grumpy and dehydrated all at the same time. He napped, woke up a little less grumpy, then back to Bryce for sunset.

Day 4 the drive through Escalante is incredible. Drove through twice so we could get better pictures (Ed’s idea).

Capitol Reef is the most underrated park. Amazing views with half the amount of people. Felt like a mix of Zion and Bryce.

Mormon ghost lady checked us into the haunted motel.

Ed lost another dinner bet to me. Won myself a free dinner and the biggest beer I’ve ever seen.

Great Salt Lake smelled like rotten fish. Would not recommend. Bison on Antelope Island are pretty cool though.

Utah has more cows than people.

Entire trip has been great on the best back roads, but now we’re near Salt Lake it’s highway the rest of the way to Missoula.

The Harley really eats up highway. 80mph / 6th gear / 3000rpm. Pretty mellow cruising.

Skipped downtown Salt Lake City and decided to spend half the day at the great salt lake and Antelope Island.

Great Salt lake is at is lowest water level ever. It smells like absolute rotten garbage on parts of the island right now which is a shame.

There are 750 Bison on Antelope Island. Wild.

Explored a historic farming settlement on the island. Don’t poop on the floor.

Capitol Reef national park was a nice surprise. Great colors.

The Harley has developed a weird hesitation once in a while which I’m guessing is due to rapid elevation changes and the sensor that picks that shit up to tell the EFI what to do is getting confused. I dunno.

In Utah, on rt12, between Escalante and Boulder, was possibly the best motorcycle road I’ve ever done. It was insane. Image gallery below.

Really having fun overall.

Saw a ton of deer, kinda sketchy.

Harley transmission is way too notchy and really annoying.

Met older guy in a diner who was on same Harley as mine. We talked and he said he bought a z1 brand new when he was 16, before I ever mentioned anything about mine. Kinda cool.

Bryce Canyon views were nuts.

I got grumpy and needed a nap mid day.

Went to a country bar at night and they played back to back Neil Diamond for over an hour. Not pumped.

Such great roads to the Grand Canyon. Zion was insane. Really happy we started in Vegas instead of Denver.

My back is holding so far so happy about that.

The bike is still working out great. I’m really enjoying it. It’s smoother than I anticipated. I get it. I get why people like the big Harleys. They have that initial torque punch with the grunt sound. It’s fun. I get it. It def moves but it’s not exactly fast. Prob about as fast as my cb450. But just has that nice initial torque hit regardless of if I’m at 40mph or 90mph which a Honda CB doesn’t have.

I almost broke Kendra’s finger accidentally.

North Rim – Cape Royal road was so much fun. Their version of tail of dragon.

Weather has been great but we had insane rain towards end of day which was fine. We were already in our lodging. Listened to a band play Johnny Cash.

I’m spending the month of August in Montana again. Figured I’d do a fun little week MC trip with the lady on the way out to MT. I considered a week trip from Denver to MT but then thought Vegas to MT had more scenic stuff and national parks.

So I rented a 2021 Harley Roadking for the week. I wanted to try something different.

I have a herniated disc L5/S1 which is annoying. Hopefully it doesn’t act up on this trip. Fingers crossed.

Vegas is a great location to start this week road trip but Vegas is disgusting, I won’t be back. Fremont Street was fun for a little bit.

It’s as hot as a Tijuana hooker in hell.

Once we got an hour outside Vegas the scenery became great.

Initial impressions of the Harley…

Kickstand makes me nervous.

Bike sends vibrations through my head on highway which I’m not used to.

So far the bike is working out great.

Passenger seat is like a living room sofa.

Damn the bike is heavy as fuck.

Clutch is a cable not hydraulic, and cable feels like it’s gonna snap.

Transmission is pretty bad. Finding neutral is the worst out of any bike I’ve ever ridden. Maybe previous renter warped clutch plates?

In Zion now and exploring. Views are great.