I rode to Rapid City, SD to visit family and ride with my brother who brought his motorcycle out from Indiana.  I took the same route as three years ago through Moab and Denver to get home. It was about 1,230 miles one way and my total mileage after arriving home was around 2,900 miles.

The first day I rode from Phoenix, AZ to Rifle, CO which took about 13.5 hours with gas/food stops.  I stopped for dinner in Moab, UT at the Peace Tree Cafe and it was delicious! I’d recommend eating there.

I arrived at Rifle, CO on the 3rd of July which meant that fireworks were going off everywhere, but I was so tired I fell asleep almost immediately.

The next day I rode through Denver and then north through Cheyenne, then northwest through Hot Springs, SD to get home. It was a 9-10 hour day.  The wind in Wyoming was as strong as ever, it’s always windy!

While in South Dakota I met with a bunch of childhood friends to catch up on life.  I hadn’t seen one since we were teenagers!  I also had some ex-Phoenix friends who now live in Portland stop through on their way back to the west coast.  We played tourist for a day and hit all the top spots in the southern hills.

 

Tuesday was a day of golfing at Meadowbrook Golf course with my Father and Brother.  We had a super fun time!

My brother, brother-in-law, nephew, and I went riding on Wednesday and had such a great time cruising up to Nemo, out to Hill City for breakfast, Keystone for taffy, through Custer State Park and then back to Rapid City.

 

 

 

As usual for the last few years riding through Wyoming, there was rain and hail almost all the way into Denver.  Other than that, everything went smoothly.

On the way back home I stopped in Denver for a night and found that my chain had an issue as well as picking up a screw in the front tire.  There was a shop nearby called Erico Motorsports who hooked me up with the new Michelin Anakee 3 for the front tire and got the chain issues worked out quickly.  If you ever need assistance in the downtown Denver area, Erico Motorsports is the place you should go.  They were professional, super thorough and very understanding and friendly people. JP was the guy who helped me and he did an exceptional job. I wrote them a Yelp review.

Saturday morning meant I was back on the road.  It was a rainy ride to Moab, UT where I once again fell to sleep almost immediately.  On the way to Moab I took the bypass instead of the Interstate for the last 40+ miles and was glad I did.  That is such a beautiful area to ride!

 

 

The final day from Moab to Phoenix was an almost perfect day.  The weather was warm, but not hot and the wind was fairly calm.

 

I’m happy to be back in Phoenix and back to my dogs, my work, my “regular” life.

In South Dakota I trimmed my beard down to about 3/4″ long and when I got home on Sunday I took the rest off.  It gets too uncomfortable and misshapen during rides and it’s rather nice to not have to worry about it anymore (for a while).

August 1st I start my big ride to western Canada.  I can’t wait!