Summer Tour 2015

Greetings!

In May 2015, I embarked on another cross-country summer tour that included attending the Concours Owners Group’s national rally in Cortez, Colorado between June 13th and 19th as well as the Motorcycle Sport Touring Association’s national rally called STAR2015 in Springdale, Arkansas between June 20th and 25th.  Along the way I attended an MSTA regional rally in Sparta, North Carolina over Memorial Weekend followed by another visit to my step-brother and his wife in Alexandria, Virginia for a few days.  After the MSTA rally, I returned to Colorado by July 10th to attend the multi-day training class for new riders of adventure motorcycles hosted by RawHyde Adventures in the central mountains near Hartsel. Following training, I attending the rally of the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America in Billings, Montana. While visiting family in Washington, I decided to make the trek through western Canada to Alaska also.

On this tour, I rode my new 2015 BMW R1200GS-Adventure motorcycle that I purchased in January. I was looking forward to exploring areas of the West that are generally only accessible via unpaved roads or trails, which can be difficult to negotiate on sport-touring motorcycles, such as my Kawasaki Concours-14 and Triumph Trophy SE, due to their lower ground clearances and higher weights.

This next photo was taken at the Arctic Circle north of Fairbanks, Alaska.

Photo from my August 15th visit to the Arctic Circle along the Dalton Hwy north of Fairbanks, Alaska

Photo from my August 15th visit to the Arctic Circle along the Dalton Hwy north of Fairbanks
According to my GPS, I’m at N66.55577° W150.81071° (N66° 33′ 20.8″ W150° 48′ 39.1″).

As during my previous journeys, I posted travelogue updates to this website along with sending out notices. From past experience, these updates and notices may be several days after a day’s travel or other events have taken place. This year I again used the Spot Messenger device and the Spotwalla web service to track my path and show my current location during my journey.

Now that my Summer Tour 2015 has ended, this next map provides a general overview of my entire journey and shows my completed tour.

Final Overview Map of Summer Tour 2015

Final Overview Map of Summer Tour 2015

Alternatively, you can click on the following link to display the full-sized tracking map on Spotwalla.com for various display options to more closely examine areas of interest:

https://new.spotwalla.com/trip/4a0d-15ae-2554/view

As I complete my travelogue entries, they become accessible in chronological sequence by clicking on the underlined link in the following scrollable list. Links at the top of each travelogue page will move you to the prior or subsequent travelogue report. At each stop along my tour, I’ll add the corresponding entry with its date to this list, but several days or weeks may pass until I prepare the travelogue report and the link becomes available. (Be sure to scroll down in the box to see the later entries.)

Update (9/10/2015): On September 8th I safely returned home after completing my cross-country tour lasting 111 days and traveling 24,296 miles (39,100 km). Over the next several weeks, I intend to complete the remaining travelogue entries.

Thanks for your interest in my motorcycle journey.

  1. Jupiter, FL to Sparta, NC (May 20-22, 2015)
  2. Weekend at TriSTAR Rally (May 23-24, 2015)
  3. Sparta, NC to Alexandria, VA (May 25-26, 2015)
  4. Mount Vernon Tour (May 27, 2015)
  5. Alexandria, VA to Atlantic City, NJ (May 29, 2015)
  6. Atlantic City, NJ to Grand Rapids, MI (May 30-June 1, 2015)
  7. Grand Rapids, MI to Munising, MI (June 2, 2015)
  8. Boat Excursion to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (June 3, 2015)
  9. Munising, MI to West Point, NE (June 4-7, 2015)
  10. West Point, NE to Boulder, CO (June 8, 2015)
  11. Boulder, CO to Cortez, CO (June 13, 2015)
  12. Mesa Verde National Park (June 14, 2015)
  13. Tour of CO-141/US-550 (June 15, 2015)
  14. Durango-Silverton Train Excursion (June 16, 2015)
  15. Mexican Hat Tour (June 18, 2015)
  16. Cortez, CO to Springdale, AR (June 19-20, 2015)
  17. STAR-2015 in Springdale, AR (June 21-24, 2015)
  18. Springdale, AR to Houston, TX (June 25-26, 2015)
  19. Houston, TX to Kerrville, TX (June 27, 2015)
  20. Kerrville, TX to Terlingua, TX (June 28, 2015)
  21. Tour of Big Bend National Park (June 29, 2015)
  22. Terlingua, TX to El Paso, TX (June 30, 2015)
  23. El Paso, TX to Santa Fe, NM (July 2, 2015)
  24. Santa Fe, NM to Boulder, CO (July 3, 2015)
  25. Boulder, CO to Buena Vista, CO (July 9, 2015)
  26. Attending the RawHyde Adventure Camp (July 10-14, 2015)
  27. Hartsel, CO to Frisco, CO (July 15-16, 2015)
  28. Frisco, CO to Aspen, CO (July 17, 2015)
  29. Frisco, CO to Riverton, WY (July 18, 2015)
  30. Riverton, WY to Billings. MT (July 19, 2015)
  31. BMWMOA Rally in Billings, MT (July 20-26, 2015)
  32. Billings, MT to Stanley, ID (July 26, 2015)
  33. Stanley, ID to Arlington, OR (July 27, 2015)
  34. Excursion to Trout Lake, WA (July 31, 2015)
  35. Arlington, OR to Gig Harbor, WA (August 1, 2015)
  36. Excursion to Port Townsend, WA (August 2, 2015)
  37. Gig Harbor, WA to Ferndale, WA (August 6, 2015)
  38. Ferndale, WA to Quesnel, BC (August 7, 2015)
  39. Quesnel, BC to New Hazelton, BC (August 8, 2015)
  40. New Hazelton, BC to Dease Lake, BC (August 9, 2015)
  41. Dease Lake, BC to Whitehorse, YT (August 10, 2015)
  42. Whitehorse, YT to Dawson City, YT (August 11, 2015)
  43. Dawson City, YT to Fairbanks, AK (August 12, 2015)
  44. Fairbanks Area (August 13, 2015)
  45. Fairbanks, AK to Arctic Circle (August 14, 2015)
  46. Fairbanks, AK to Denali Highway (August 15, 2015)
  47. Susitna River (August 16, 2015)
  48. Denali Highway to Valdez, AK (August 17, 2015)
  49. Valdez, AK to Anchorage, AK (August 18-19, 2015)
  50. Anchorage, AK to Homer, AK (August 20, 2015)
  51. Homer, AK to Glennallen, AK (August 21, 2015)
  52. Glennallen, AK to Haines Junction, YT (August 22, 2015)
  53. Haines Junction, YT to Dease Lake, BC (August 23, 2015)
  54. Dease Lake, BC to New Hazelton, BC (August 24, 2015)
  55. New Hazelton, BC to Ferndale, WA (August 25-26, 2015)
  56. Service in Ferndale, WA (August 27, 2015)
  57. Ferndale, WA to Arlington, OR (August 28, 2015)
  58. Arlington, OR to Nampa, ID (August 31, 2015)
  59. Nampa, ID to Evanston, WY (September 1, 2015)
  60. Evanston, WY to Boulder, CO (September 2, 2015)
  61. Boulder, CO to Newton, KS (September 5, 2015)
  62. Newton, KS to Jonesboro, AR (Sept. 6, 2015)
  63. Jonesboro, AR to Dothan, AL (Sept. 7, 2015)
  64. Dothan, AL to Jupiter, FL (Sept. 8, 2015)