Final Thoughts

While our trip home was uneventful (except the lady on a cell phone in an SUV who thought the bike was a deer and tried to run us over!), I think we learned a great deal about traveling and camping on a motorcycle.  Our final mile count was just over 1500.  Traveling on a bike is a great way to see the country side and meet the locals.  People are pretty friendly at local watering holes, gas stations and restaurants when they meet people riding long distances on a motorcycle.  We met some pretty interesting people along the way; some that we'd like to see again, and others....not so much.  

We definitely need to invest in a better seat as our butts got pretty sore after a few hours of riding.  All in all however it was a great trip and hopefully we will get another chance to try a longer in the near future.  

Thanks for reading our blog and keep it in your bookmarks as we will undoubtedly update it continuely as we plan future trips.

Stuck in the tent, again.

The weather was great today for riding but as soon as we finished
dinner it started dumping rain on us. Our tent is setup under a
shelter so at least we don't have to worry about getting wet tonight.
The campground we're at has wifi, a pool and a hot tub. More pictures
to come if it ever stops raining.

Oh yeah, we didnt go to yellowstone because lisa has to work on
Tuesday morning. We are in Sheridan Wyoming.

Eddy's

Looks much better in the picture. Not sure our exact route today, but
for sure we are going to Bozeman and figure it out from there.

The party continues

with sky trying to dance with the bride.

The happy couple

Well we made it through the wedding and now its time to party.

Storm

Here's a better picture of the storm last night. We were walking back
to the campground from the pre wedding party and had to take refuge in
a doorway because the lightening was so bad.

Rain

To help celebrate this year's Independence Day there was lots of
fireworks and....thunder, lightening and rain, tons of rain. Our tent
held up well, but some of our gear got pretty wet. We packed
everything up this morning and rode half a mile to the motel we're
staying at tonight. Its a grade A dump, but at least it has AC and TV.

Lisa's new friend.

Phil

We met Phil yesterday afternoon at a gas station about 40 miles south
of our campsite. He rides a 2003 BMW K1200rs (a super nice touring
bike). After strikeing up a conversation with him, he followed us to
the campground and stayed in a site next door. Phil is traveling to
Big Sky Montana today.

Safe travels Phil and we hope you made it safely to your destination
and home again.

Montana

Long day today with extremly hot and windy conditions.

Protein!

Nothing better then opening your face shield and taking a bug in the
teeth.

Day 1 is in the bag

We arrived safely at the Big Horn campground around 6pm. Camp is up
and now its time to find some food.

Somewhere in Wyoming....

Stopped for a break. We're getting about 46mpg. 130 more miles until
we hit our campground. Lisa found an ant hill.

Departure!

All packed up

A quick test run to make sure nothing flies off tomorrow.

The panniers are carrying our clothing and sleeping bags (strapped on top).  The 'trunk' has an air mattress, electric pump (lap of luxury!) and miscellaneous camping gear stuffed inside, and strapped on top is our tent and tarp.  The tank bag will carry our personal items (ID, money, cellphone) extra gloves and maps.  The bike doesn't look to bogged down so hopefully we'll get pretty decent gas milage (50+ mpg).

I'm getting a new rear tire installed tomorrow morning before we leave at the Suzuki dealer I bought the bike from.  They were kind enough to fit us in first thing in the AM so we can be on the road by 10 (even though they sold me the bike a month ago with the bad tire, crimped chain and damaged sprockets).  

Getting pretty geared up for tomorrow.

The blog

Lisa and I will be adding content to this blog from the road via my iphone.  Our first four days (starting July 3rd) are as follow:

Day 1:  Fort Collins CO to Buffalo WY - 350 miles.  Camp at the Big Horn Campground.

Day 2:  Buffalo WY to Butte MT - 350 miles.  Camp at the KOA in downtown Butte.

Day 3:  Butte MT.  Transfer to Eddy's Motel and attend Tori's wedding.

Day 4:  Butte MT to Yellowstone/Grand Tetons - ~300 miles.  Camp.

After the wedding things become fuzzy.  Our original plan had us traveling through Yellowstone and camping in the Grand Tetons, but that would leave a 500 miles ride home on day 5 (which is pretty unreasonable).  So we may end up camping in the Tetons and then traveling south towards Colorado and camping somewhere in Wyoming.  

Who knows?  Stay tuned....

The bike

Our V-Strom a few days after purchase.

2006 Suzuki V-Strom

650cc v-twin DOHC motor

6 speed transmission

5.8 gallon fuel tank

Bike upgrades:

Regina chain

JT steel sprockets

Farkles (motorcycle accessories):

Givi E21 panniers (not pictured in this post)

Kappa Top case (Lisa calls this 'the trunk') with passenger back rest

Fox tank bag (also not pictured)

V-Strom 650DL

The V-Strom motorcycle is an adventure touring bike that allows riders to comfortably travel to the furthest reaches of the planet.  While I have been riding motorcycles for over 10 years, the V-Strom is the first bike I've owned that can not only carry a passenger comfortably, but also enough luggage and camping gear to make overnight traveling on a motorcycle something more then just a pipe dream.  This blog will detail Lisa and I's adventures in moto-camping starting with a trip from Fort Collins Colorado to Butte Montana (a measly 750 mile ride, but when you throw in a side trip through Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, you get a 1500 mile 5 day moto-camping extravaganza).