2021 Ride Planning - with "Freedom" from COVID-19 insight or at least on the Horizon

2021 Ride Planning - with "Freedom" from COVID-19 insight or at least on the Horizon

With "Freedom" from COVID-19 insight or at least on the Horizon, who is planning their 2021 Rides?

I get my second vaccination on Wednesday, March 3rd.

On March 20th I'm heading to meet three other vaccinated friends in Tucson for a couple of weeks of riding in the AZ/CA/NV area. I'll trailer to Alamosa CO and one of my friends and I will ride from there, returning before April 15th so I can finish my taxes.

Next will beis the BMWMOA Rally in Great Falls.
As Canada looks like it is a "no go" there will be no run to Dawson City for "Dust to Dawson" beforehand.
I'll ride the Bighorns on the way to Great Falls, spend a night in Red Lodge, then head to the Rally on Thursday. I think I'll ride the "Highline" MT #2 on the way home.

SWMBO and I will take the travel trailer somewhere to avoid the Sturgis Madness, likely returning around Mid-August.

My big ride for the year will be to attend several events out West all associated with the FJR groups/people/friends I love to ride with.
First is the National FJR "Rally", NAFO in Glenwood Springs CO August 26-29th. This is a ride in the daytime and parking lot social event in the evening.

From Glenwood Springs I'll head West to a great event over Labor Day weekend near Yosemite, "YFO", YFO is put on by a great lady from Northern CA, Tyler Risk. Loosley associated with the FJR group it is truly a gathering of many different bikes and people.
YFO is based at the Virginia Creek Settlement, a resort a few miles South of Bridgeport CA on US 395.

After YFO I plan to head West and North eventually reaching LaPine OR for the tenth annual "Reuben Run" another FJR associated event that is now comprised of all sorts of motorcycles and people that come to LaPine for the best Reuben Sandwich I've ever eaten.
I'm hoping to head straight West and be able to ride North on CA-1 recognizing that CA-1 is presently closed at Fish Creek.
I'm hoping by the end of summer it is back open again. I've ridden CA-1 several times but always from North to South.
I'll ride CA-1 North as far as Fortuna and then head East on CA-36 to Red Bluff before taking back roads North to La Pine.

After the "Reuben Run" I'll again head North and East working my way back home to Spearfish staying off the interstates and stopping along the way to see some friends in Idaho and Montana. I'll probably head East over the Lolo Pass among other interesting roads along the way.

As always I'll be prepared to camp but intend on moteling it for the bulk of the trip.

Enough about my plans, what are some of yours?

I have several options planned for how to spend my early summer.

In the unlikely event that Covid concerns are history by April, Glenlivet and I would take the sidecar rig south to Lancaster PA, then Gettysburg, Ohio's Hocking Hills, drop southwest to cross rural north Kentucky and into the Ozarks and Oachitas of Missouri and Arkansas, cross southern Kansas then southwest to Santa Fe NM. We'd explore southern Utah for ten days, then the north rim of the Grand Canyon, the Valley of Fire NV, cross Death Valley, arc around the Sierras to Sequoia and Yosemite NP, up to Lake Tahoe, then west to the coast at Ft Bragg CA. From there up the coast as far as Bandon OR, inland a bit to the West Cascades, Spirit Lake at Mt St Helens, Mt Rainier NP, hook around the Olympic Peninsula, loaf a few days in the San Juan Islands, then cross the Northern Cascades to northern MT where we would either cross Glacier NP on Going to the Sun Road or (if the weather isn't cooperative) hook around the southern route to Great Falls. On the way home we'd ride Beartooth and Chief Joseph Passes, routes 14, ALT14 and 16 in the magnificent Bighorns, Devils Tower WY, Black Hills SD, and Badlands NP before crossing the plains and Midwest on familiar US Highways.

It's more likely that the nation won't have a handle on the pandemic till June. In that case we'd ride across Upstate NY then angle down to pick up US 224/24 as far as Peoria IL, then US 34 to Ft Collins CO, up the Cache la Poudre Canyon, loop around to catch Medicine Bow WY, north to Ten Sleep Canyon, jog over to Shell Canyon, then hook around Chief Joseph and Beartooth to Red Lodge MT and up to the rally.

If the rural west is looking good but rates are still high between here and there, we would trailer the rig to the Ft Collins area to minimize exposure (the trusty Xterra is a self-contained escape pod) then ride from there.

And if the rally is cancelled we would leave the rig home and take the Escape Pod to southern Utah, leaving civilization behind and boondocking on BLM land, visiting towns only to resupply and head back out among the rocks.

I turn 65 this coming Saturday so will qualify for the vaccine. Hopefully they get me in soon!

Pete

Hey John - Just a heads-up, 395 is loaded with cops from Devil's Gate (north of Bridgeport, they love to catch people coming down that hill) to the junction of 395 and 14, south of Lone Pine. (And that stretch south of Lone Pine is still getting earthquakes...)

April is 16 to 18 days for Texas Hill Country trip.

June, a week for Virginia, West Virginia and Blue Ridge Parkway.

August, a week for Eastern Kentucky (If we decide to go to Ashville in October we'll skip this one)

September, six days on Mackinac Island Michigan with the bicycles.

October a week in NW Arkansas

Maybe October in the Ashville NC
area for a i-BMW reunion

If we have enough funds I would like to go to Colorado in July, or maybe the Black Hills. We have not been to the Black Hills in a long time.

Debbie probably can't get the vaccine for a long time, so no large events.

Pauls1150 said:

Hey John - Just a heads-up, 395 is loaded with cops from Devil's Gate (north of Bridgeport, they love to catch people coming down that hill) to the junction of 395 and 14, south of Lone Pine. (And that stretch south of Lone Pine is still getting earthquakes...)

Click to expand...

Yup, they were watching for us in 2019. Doesn't pay to run much beyond Five over on 395 unless you have a brave rabbit out front and the Radar Detector on and tested.

What I'd like to do, but don't expect to be able to do:

Make a trip down to CA, for the 49'er Rally at Mariposa, CA, over the Memorial Day weekend. I usually include traveling down through the Sierras and come back up the coast on the way home.

In June, travel over to OR, for the Chief Joseph Rally at John Day, OR, the weekend prior to the Great Falls national.

Then travel over to Great Falls for the national, continuing eastthrough MI's UP and down into the LP to visit my family, probably returning home about mid July.

In August, travel to Grand Jean, ID, for the Stanley Stomp Rally.

Unless we see things improving numberwise, I'm not sure how comfortable I'll be hanging out at the rallies though. When I travel, 90% of the time I'm by myself and I camp, and even though I've had Covid 19 and survived, and will have had the vaccine (2/2), and the booster (this Wednesday 3/3), I don't want to be out spreading it to those who haven't been vaccinated, especially my friends and loved ones.

I'm ready to ride, but still testing the waters.

If we're vaccinated and Norway is open to Americans, my wife and I will do the the Edelweiss Bike Travel "Viking Experience" tour. We had to cancel our 2020 reservation and roll it forward to this year due to you-know-what. I'm also planning my first Iron Butt ride, a Saddle Sore 1000, ending at the Barber Vintage MC Museum in Birmingham, but have not set a date yet.

Received 1st C-19 shot 9 days ago. 2nd shot scheduled for 2 weeks from today. Current plans are to ride to Great Falls for the Rally. If the fates are in our favor, we'll add a few days after the rally and head over to WA, down thru OR to CA before heading someway back to AL. I don't have to worry about visiting Barber's -- it's only 18 miles away from my house! All goes well, we'll be on the road for 3-4 weeks.