End of the Summer, End of the Trip

Well, the time has come. My Summer on the Harley has come to an end. But as some of you know, I don't do anything halfway. So, my last ride on this trip was a staggering 1,167 miles from Alcoa, Tennessee, to Emory, Texas, after 18.5 hours on the bike!!! During today's ride, I hit 55,000 miles, 55,555.5 miles, and 56,000 miles on the trip. Mind totally blown 🤯🤯🤯!!!

All that AND I successfully completed my Iron Butt Association SaddleSore 1000 🎉!
- Start 71295 04:29 EDT
- End 72438 21:06 CDT
- TOTAL 1143 17 hours 37 minutes 😁

It has been an absolutely amazing summer. I am so happy to have finally seen so many more places in the US, even though the Northwest was covered in smoke and the Southeast was covered in kudzu. But the best part of the trip was meeting so many new people and listening to their stories, dreams, and challenges, all while riding around on motorcycles. How will I ever top this trip 😳?

Here's a short statistical wrap-up:
- 198 days
- 56,018.3 miles
- 47 states
- Exactly 500 Harley Davidson dealerships
- 10 of the 10 Rides for 2021 challenge
- 46 of the 50 Rides 1 Nation challenge
- 11 of 11 possible HOG rallies
- 49 of the 50 Motorcycle Grand Tour of Texas event [P.S.: I got the 50th on 9 Oct.😁]
- 1 broken foot, 1 broken bracelet, 1 broken heart, 1 broken pair of chaps, 1 broken kickstand, 1 broken helmet
- 3 bike tows, 8 tires, 11 5,000-mile services
- Amazing suntans from my gloves

What I've learned:
- #1: NO WHINING! 🚫😩
- Pack for 3 days and plan to do laundry 🧺.
- If you're afraid, act like you're not 💪.
- There are terrific people 😀 and awful people 🤬 everywhere.
- Virginia vehicles do not come with blinkers 🤦.
- If a hotel costs less than $50 a night, there's a pretty decent chance you don't want to stay there 😝.
- Open your heart because you will find love more often than pain ❤️.
- And lastly, never completely trust that the GPS knows whether or not a road is paved. If you do, and it's not, then see #1 above 😉.

So long, and thanks for all the fish! ✌️

Final Day 198 mileage: 1167.0 🤯 (FINAL TRIP MILEAGE 56018.3)

P.S.: 30 Nov 21: I just did the math. I spent $11,119.99 on maintenance and service 😳.Read more