Itinerary

Days 1-9: New England and the BMA MOA Rally

June 7–15 · New York, Massachusetts, Vermont: North out of New York City through the Hudson Valley and the Berkshires. A stop at Mount Greylock, the Taconic Trail, and a few days with my brother in Killington before the BMW MOA National Rally in Essex Junction. A day of rain and record heat at the rally sent me looking for an air-conditioned room in Stowe, where a bartender and a UPS clerk helped me map out a 182-mile loop up to Lake Willoughby and Jay Peak. This was the leg where the trip stopped being a drive to somewhere and started being the thing itself.

Days 10-16: Into Canada and Along the Great Lakes

June 16–22 · Vermont, Ontario, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota: Across the border at Ogdensburg-Prescott into Ontario, breakfast in Kanata with a rider I'd met on the forums, and a rain-soaked ride along the north shore of Lake Huron to Sault Ste. Marie. I watched the ships transit the Soo Locks, visited the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point, and rode the Tahquamenon Scenic Byway. A rider named Gary drove out to Ironwood so we could ride together toward the Twin Cities, down remote paved forest roads through Wisconsin's Lake Country that I never would have found on my own. From St. Paul it was highway miles across Minnesota into North Dakota.

Days 17-19: The Badlands., Bison and the Four Bears Byway

June 23–25 · North Dakota: Two days out of Dickinson covering about 420 miles of scenic byways and national park loops. The Kildeer Mountain Four Bears Scenic Byway climbs from flat highway into genuine badlands along the Little Missouri River. Theodore Roosevelt National Park delivered bison at close range in both the North and South Units, close enough to be a reminder that they're still completely wild.

Days 20-23: The Black Hills Classic Rides, a Second Try

June 26–29 · South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming: A return to roads I'd ridden two years before, this time with a checklist: check the camera angle, clean the lens, review the footage every night. Spearfish Canyon, a detour to Newcastle, Wyoming, and then Needles Highway and Iron Mountain Road, ridden in both directions until I was sure I'd gotten them right. A wildlife loop through Custer State Park, then the flatlands of the Nebraska panhandle on the way to Cheyenne, before the road turned south toward Colorado.

Days 24-27: Estes Park, Rocky Mountain National Park and Trail Ridge Road

June 30–July 3 · Wyoming, Colorado: Into Estes Park by way of Poudre Canyon, Rist Canyon, and Big Thompson Canyon. Trail Ridge Road, ridden in both directions on two separate days, crests at 12,183 feet, the highest continuous paved road in the country and, at the time, the highest I'd ever taken a motorcycle. A herd of elk grazing at the edge of the pavement was the highlight of the ride.

Days 28-31: Idaho Springs and Some High Passes

July 4–7 · Colorado: Route 72 through Nederland was good enough to ride twice in one morning. A Fourth of July stop with a childhood friend in Erie, then two days built around Berthoud Pass, Loveland Pass, Guanella Pass, and Mount Blue Sky. Mount Blue Sky's summit parking lot sits at 14,130 feet, the highest paved road in North America and the trip's overall high point, with drop-offs and switchbacks that were more unsettling than the altitude itself.

Days 32-35: Central Colorados Highest Passes

July 8–11 · Colorado: Leaving Idaho Springs, Battle Mountain Pass out of Minturn, then Independence Pass, one of Colorado's most storied climbs, crossing the Continental Divide at 12,095 feet between Twin Lakes and Aspen. A couple of slow days in Salida, then Monarch Pass and a 131-mile detour over Cottonwood Pass just to get lunch in Buena Vista, worth it for the scenery alone.

Days 36-38: Montrose, Grand Mesa and the Black Canyon

July 12–14 · Colorado: The two hottest riding days of the trip, up to 110 degrees, with wildfire smoke thick enough to smell from a coffee shop. The Black Canyon of the Gunnison's north rim, Grand Mesa (the world's largest flat-topped mountain), McClure Pass, and the Redstone coke ovens. East Portal Road, the steepest road in Colorado, dropped the bike's temperature gauge into a warning before it recovered on the way back up.

Days 39-40: The Silver Thread, and the Long Way to Durango, In the Rain

July 15–16 · Colorado: Wildfire smoke near Lake City gave way to the Silver Thread Scenic Byway over Slumgullion and Spring Creek Passes. What started as light drizzle at the summit of Wolf Creek Pass turned into a full downpour by the time I reached Durango, soaked through and gray-handed from the dye in my leather gloves. A cup of coffee, on the house, closed out the day.

Days 41-44: Silverton, Ouray and the Million Dollar Highway

July 17–20 · Colorado: A road I'd been looking forward to for years, and it delivered. Coal Bank and Molas Passes on the way in, then the Million Dollar Highway itself between Silverton and Ouray, hairpin turns and thousand-foot drop-offs with no guardrail. A full loop of the San Juan Skyway through Dolores, Rico, and Telluride over Lizard Head Pass. I rode the Million Dollar Highway seven times before leaving Colorado, and it earned every one of them.

Days 45-46: Taos, Philmont and the Enchanted Circle

July 21–22 · Colorado, New Mexico: South through Pagosa Springs and Chama into New Mexico, retracing part of a route from a 2004 trip with Donette. The Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway over Bobcat Pass, New Mexico's highest, with a detour down Cimarron Canyon to Philmont Scout Ranch, where I'd been a scout in July 1983. Forty-three years later, the Tooth of Time looked about the same.

Days 47-50 Albuquerque and the Mountains of New Mexico

July 23–26 · New Mexico, Texas: The high road between Taos and Santa Fe, then a full service and new tires at the BMW dealer in Albuquerque before starting the roughly 2,700-mile ride home. South through Socorro and Alamogordo, a rainstorm waited out with fellow riders under a gas station overhang near Cloudcroft, and a run at New Mexico 532 toward Ski Apache cut short by construction and loose gravel. Heat pushed past 105 degrees by the time I reached Brownfield, Texas.

Days 51-56: The Long Ride Home

July 27–August 1 · Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Indiana, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York: Dinner with Donette's mom in Arlington, then the Talimena Scenic Drive across the Choctaw Nation into Arkansas, Route 7 through the Ozarks, and backroads in the Mark Twain National Forest. A stop in Bloomington, Indiana with fellow creator Scott Matlock, the Hoosier Cruiser, then the longest single day of the trip: 577 miles from Bloomington to Carlisle, Pennsylvania. The final three hours ran through Pennsylvania and New Jersey and into the city, 56 days and 9,800 miles after leaving it.: New York to Vermont