My 2023 Out West Adventure wasn’t my first time touring in the western United States. But the nine-day, about 4,900-mile trip was more than just another tour – it was a trip I’d waited more than a decade to take that, overall, was mostly what I hoped it would be.

I’d originally planned the trip for the 2011 riding season. The previous year, I gave myself a graduation gift when I got my first masters degree in the form of an 11-day ride from Buffalo, N.Y., to Salt Lake City, Utah, to see the United States’ only World Superbike round for 2010 at what was then called Miller Motorsports Park. I had a great time and decided to ride to the 2011 edition of the event – and add stops at the Four Corners Monument and Monument Valley. My third grade teacher told my class about her stop there and how she got to have each of her four limbs in a different state. I wanted to find out what that was like. And Monument Valley was used for the filming of Airwolf – one of my favorite TV shows growing up.

What kept the trip from happening as originally planned was my negligence to change the crush washer during the previous oil change on my 1998 Bandit 1200. When I went to change the oil a few days before I was due to leave for Salt Lake, the over-torqued oil drain plug pulled the threads on the oil pan out with it. I wasn’t able to get the oil pan repaired in time to leave and didn’t have time during the rest of 2011 to take the trip (sans the racing event). Each year from 2012 to 2022, I either had the money to go but not the time, or the time but not the money. When the money and paid time off were finally available last year, I was determined to not miss the opportunity to finally take the tour.

The first two days (Sept. 30 and Oct. 1) were a run to Denver, Colo., and featured a quick stop for my Johnny Cash riding project in Kansas City, Ks. The first day of the tour from Cleveland, Ohio, to Columbia, Mo., was relatively uneventful, though it was a bit hot during midday. I left a little later than I’d planned, which ended up ruining my chance at getting good photos of my bike set against the St. Louis skyline.

The second day of the trip (from Columbia to Denver) featured the worst wind I’ve ridden in. It wasn’t the strongest wind I’ve piloted a bike through, but the unrelenting wind lasted from about Bunker Hill, Kan., to the outskirts of Denver – about 200 miles. The wind was so strong that my FJR was leaning the wrong way through corners at least a couple times. The bike was leaned over and felt a little cock-eyed when going straight. And a couple times I felt a little headshake in the bars as a couple particularly strong gusts felt like they were trying to pick the bike up off the ground. The day ended well, as I rode into Denver at dusk to see the city lights set against a beautiful sunset and the silhouette of the mountains in the distance.

While I was in Denver, I got to have breakfast with a friend I hadn’t seen in about 15 years, got dinner at the restaurant (FlyteCo Tower) that’s inside the air traffic control tower for Denver’s former international airport and got to explore the Central Park neighborhood that was mentioned multiple times during my graduate urban planning coursework. 

Day 3 (Oct. 2) was when the “west” part of the trip really started for me. My route included navigating the twists and turns of U.S. Routes 40 and 34 from Interstate 70 to Grand Lake, Colo., for another Johnny Cash stop, as well as a lesson about mountain riding and weather. I stopped in Kremmling, Colo., for fuel, and it was about 68 degrees and dry as I was riding out of the valley. When I started my ascent up Gore Pass on Colorado State Route 134, an incoming weather system sent temperatures plummeting to the mid-40s with an on-and-off drizzle. I later made my way back to I-70 and rode through some terrain that looked like it was straight out of the film Avatar. The scenic beauty of Colorado was amazing – little did I know parts of Utah would top it. I left Denver late and it was a bit of a race for the rest of the day to my hotel (The Atomic Blue Motor Inn) in Monticello, Utah. I arrived at the tail end of dusk.

The next two days (Oct. 3 and 4) were the crux of the trip. I finally got to ride through Monument Valley, stop at Forrest Gump point, stand at the center of the Four Corners Monument and see all three rock bridges at the Natural Bridges National Monument. I also rode in New Mexico and Arizona for the first time. The fun was dampened some by the very cold conditions, as my departure on both days was delayed until about 9 a.m. as I waited for temperatures to climb to about 40 degrees. 

I had a couple mechanical gremlins to deal with during those two days. On Oct. 3, I noticed my throttle was acting a bit choppy at low RPM, which meant the throttle cables needed to be adjusted. This is a known issue with the FJR1300 at higher elevation. I got that taken care of in a welcome center parking lot. The bigger unplanned maintenance task was adjust my bike’s manual cam chain tensioner on the morning of Oct. 4. I hadn’t ridden more than 12,000 miles the previous two years (which was about how much I’d ridden at the time I left for out west), and didn’t consider that the chain may need to be tightened at about 14,00-15,000 miles. The delay on Oct. 3 ended up costing me a chance to ride through the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park.

Though all of those experiences were great, my favorite part of the trip was my ride on Utah State Routes 95 and 24 and U.S. Route 6 from Blanding, Utah, to Provo, Utah. The ride was so scenic that it became mentally overstimulating. I capped off the ride to Salt Lake City by having dinner with a friend that I’ve known since 2006 but hadn’t met in person before. 

Oct. 5 marked my first time riding in Nevada and the Pacific Time Zone, as well as the western-most portion of the trip. I stopped at the westbound rest area on I-80 in the middle of the Bonneville Salt Flats and got to walk out on the salt. After getting fuel and breakfast in West Wendover, Nev., getting photos of my FJR with the big cowboy and stopping at a rest area with a splendid view of Pilot Peak, I started my trek back east.

I made a quick stop to take a few photos at the entrance to the former Miller Motorsports Park (now known as Utah Motorsports Complex) before continuing back though Salt Lake City, up Parley’s Canyon on I-80 and eventually to my hotel for the night in Rawlins, Wyo. The ride through Wyoming wasn’t without incident, as I got stuck at the Little America travel stop and resort while I-80 was closed due to a tractor-trailer fire. I didn’t get to Rawlins until after sunset.

The next morning (Oct. 6), I was again delayed due to temperatures below 40 degrees. I left more than an hour later than I’d planned on, which would end up costing me a chance to visit a museum I was really looking forward to seeing again. Temperatures ranged from the low to mid 40s as I followed I-80’s gradual descent to Laramie, Wyo. Conditions would get even worse after Laramie, as I began the ascent up the mountain range between Laramie and Cheyenne, Wyo. – which marks the highest elevation on all of I-80 at about 8,600 feet above sea level. 

As I approached the summit of the mountain pass, it was drizzling and about 41 degrees. When I saw a sign for a rest area ahead, I didn’t hesitate to stop. A sign on the access road to the rest area informed me that I’d reached I-80’s highest elevation, and I found a giant sculpture of President Abraham Lincoln’s head looking down over the interstate. Apparently, it was formerly located at the highest point on the old Lincoln Highway (U.S. Route 30) and was moved after the interstate alignment was completed.

After I got moving again, I stopped a short time later to check out the Tree in the Rock near Buford, Wyo., which is a landmark I stop at on every tour west. I then got lunch at a Taco John’s in Cheyenne, which was where I did a time calculation and realized I wasn’t going to make it to the Heartland Museum of Military Vehicles in Lexington, Neb., before it closed. 

I checked Google Maps to look for something else I could see along the way quickly, and noticed the Cheyenne Depot Museum was just a few miles away. Figuring it wouldn’t be very big, I rode to downtown Cheyenne and discovered upon arrival I was very wrong in judging the museum’s size before seeing it. The two-floor museum was loaded with artifacts and posters describing Cheyenne’s rich railroad history, and I barely had time to enjoy the museum before I had to get back on the road. 

I then had to push to make it to my hotel in Kearney, Neb., before the sun had fully set. It was my first time overnighting at a Country Inn & Suites, and I was very happy with my stay. I had a very good dinner at the Red Lobster adjacent to the hotel – and was grateful for the pleasant conversation I had with the server. It’d been a lonely day, and just a little human contact after a trying day on the road was exactly what I needed.

At the forefront of my mind all evening after I checked into my hotel was the weather. No precipitation was in the forecast for the next day (Oct. 7), but temperatures were expected to drop to near freezing overnight. I was concerned whether my FJR would want to start the next morning, as I’d never toured in temperatures that cold. I had a jump starter with me, but I’d never used it. I got gas when I got into Kearney so that I wouldn’t have to start the bike more than once the next morning and could get riding as soon as I got the engine going.

I woke up to my phone telling me it was 32 degrees outside, and again was delayed from leaving until about 9am. I had a yummy Casey’s General Stores breakfast, then loaded up the bike and hoped the bike would start. It cranked slower than usual but fired right up. I quickly mounted the mechanical steed and got riding to charge the battery back up.

Temperatures rose as I headed east, and my mind turned to my three planned stops for the day – the Museum of Danish America and the Danish Windmill in Elk Horn, Iowa, and the Iowa 80 truck stop near Davenport, Iowa. There was more to the Danish museum than I thought there would be, and, as a Lego enthusiast, I really enjoyed the portions of the exhibit that highlighted how Lego was a Danish invention. There also was a mint-condition Nimbus motorcycle on display I took a few minutes to admire. 

By the time I was done at the museum, I realized I was not going to have time to see the Danish Windmill that I’d stumbled upon on a tour in 2019. I reluctantly got back in the saddle and headed to Des Moines and then to the Iowa 80 in Walcott, Iowa. Where else can you have a three-course dinner of Pizza Hut, Wendy’s and Taco Bell all under one roof? My hotel for the night was about 15 minutes farther east on I-80.

The final day of the trip (Oct. 8) was probably the most uneventful, though it was the first morning that my departure wasn’t delayed due to low temperatures since Oct. 2. After a rather uneventful ride through Chicagoland on I-80, I hit a small but heavy pocket of rain near South Bend and had to stop at an Indiana Toll Road service plaza to dry out and warm up with a large Dunkin’ hot chocolate. 

Overall, the trip was almost everything I’d hoped it would be. It was unfortunate that so many days of the trip started late due to cold conditions. I hadn’t toured in the western United States in the fall before, so I chalk that up to a lesson learned. I didn’t get to visit everything I wanted to, but I got to see the things highest on my list and set a new personal record for my longest tour (mileage-wise). 

And – for all the places I didn’t get to visit – I guess I’ll just have to head back out west sometime soon.