Arrived home to find the parts to my windshield bracket sitting at the front door. Of course I had to install it right away and head out on the highway for a bit while the memory was still fresh. And of course, yes, it makes a huge difference. The trip would of been a much better if I had had it..

According to the trip display of my insanely useful Garmin Quest GPS that I used on this adventure, I traveled a total of 1,106.8 miles. My moving average speed was 57.3mph. I was moving for a total of 19 hours and 19 minutes. I will never take another bike trip without the Quest. It was like having Google Maps whispering in my ear the whole time. I used it once when I reached critical gas levels to find the closest station, several times to reroute me to motels and hotels after previous ones were booked, and a overall pace meter for the best times to stop to stretch or get gas…

I suffered only a oddly numb thumb that has mostly faded and a stiff hand from trying to not to fly off the bike while going 75-80mph on I-90. US2 was nice for a while in Washington state, but really not too impressive in Idaho or Montana (not to mention some nasty road construction I ran into while on it). I-90 home was a surprisingly gorgeous ride which would of been perfect if I would of had the windshield to stop the constant struggle I had with the wind. Overall, a nice little “end of my vacation” trip.

This is what happens when Steven doesn’t plan ahead. He gets a 180 dollar room with ‘an exquisite view of the greens, sir…’. And a young boy in a suit asking me if I would like him to carry my SADDLEbags to my room. The only room available, apparently, in the whole damn town of Whitefish….

Late post… The barbarians didn’t have cell service at the state line…

The breakfast part of B&B… Heading to Whitefish today… Temps in the triple digits..

Two more images from todays riding… A second picture from when I pulled over in the middle of amazing foothills… And my second gas fill up… (yes, I should be sleeping right now..)

Big bad biker guy could only find vacancy at a Victorian B&B…. Feather bedding down in Davenport, WA…

On my way east… First gas stop… Broken toilets… Sigh.

Spent the weekend cruising around on my motorcycle. Saturday was a trip to Kirkand and the mega-Target, with lunch at Starbucks. Sunday was brunch at Borders in Issaquah followed by the movie Miami Vice which was, surprisingly, acceptable.

These last two days have made me look forward to getting my on-order helmet of super-thin carbon fiber and kevlar. After getting past the fact I was going 70 mph on the freeway with my body only a few feet away from the pavement, the hardest part was simply trying to keep my head up in my huge damn helmet.

All in all, though, it was quite a fun weekend…