Me, a blonde, 2 Ducati's....3,000 miles (and then some)

Looking forward to seeing the pics and read about it

If you plan to take 2 days to make it the near 700 miles to St. George, Tonopah is a good half way point (you ARE going over 108, aren't you?) and the Best Western Motel has the required FREE BREAFAST! It's always been a good one, too. Make your own waffles, ready made scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, bagles, muffins, yogurt, fruits and juices.

Just get there early, because the dining room is small, even when people go just outside and eat by the pool.

Looking forward to the report.

beartooth pass
lolo pass
chief joseph highway

can't go wrong

It's on his route. Great road.

as others have said, great ride report; love your love of food, Italian motorcycles, and life itself....thanks for taking us along.

A huge thanks to all that have replied. Keep the suggestions coming. I'm going to look into all of them in just a bit. And thanks for the tip on the free breakfast You know Stephanie will be happy with THAT!!

Also, I was very politely asked by the powers that be to start a new thread for the upcoming trip. I'll start that tonight and will post the link here.

Thanks again

You may want to consider going north, Highway 93, out of Missoula and going thru Kalispell/Flathead Valley to Glacier National Park. The "Going to the Sun Road" thru GNP is without a doubt worth seeing. At the end of the road you come out on the east side of GNP and about 3 hours to Great Falls. Also, consider going to Billings then Red Lodge to ride Beartooth Pass into Yellowstone.

As promised, here is the link to the new thread:
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=885157

I'll be posting there with anything and everything that has to do with the new trip (including the routes and preparations). See you there

Great ride report! looking forward to part two!

Hey Gus, we are excited about this new ride, I hope all goes well, we'll wait your reports and photographs. Greetings from Costa Rica.

Stumbled upon your ride report and really enjoyed it. Great combination of writing and photography. Looking forward to the next one.

Are you going to load the bikes in the back of the truck, or tow them in a trailer behind the truck? I have an F250 (probably about the same tailgate height as your raptor) and I've never found a great way to load a street bike in or out of it. I've tried ramps, but I've never really found a easy and reliable method of doing it. Just curious if you have found a good way to load/unload them.

Thanks

Thanks Richer. Good to hear from you

We bought a few 9' ramps. Three actually. One is 17" wide and the other two are 11" wide. I'm with you as far as finding a reliable way to load the bikes. I know they sell some really wide ramps, but storing them in and out of the truck would be a huge pain in the ass. with these I can put the three ramps side-by-side and ride the bikes up (the 9' ramps makes a huge difference). I have yet to load the streetfighters, but I've loaded and unloaded the dual-sports with no problem. And although the dual-sports are lighter, my Husqvarna is a lot taller than the SF and doesn't have as much torque. So getting the SF's on there will be no problem.

If you want more info on the ramps I bought just send me a PM.

Thanks for the info. I think I might need to invest in more/better ramps, Im using a much narrower and shorter ramp.

The last time I had to load my r1150r into my truck I snuck over and used the K-Mart loading dock after they were closed. They had ramp/blocks to back my truck up on, and a hydraulic lift-gate to lower into the bed. It made the process really easy.

Cheers!

That's funny. We drove past a loading dock down the street the other night and backed the truck up to see if that would work. It was too high, so ramps it is.

A ramp down is easier than a ramp up from the ground.

I did video (in 4 parts) of our trip last year and never posted it because youtube was being such a PITA about the music. Because of it, I had to set it to private. If anyone is interested in seeing it just send me a PM with your email address and I'll add you so you can view it.

Hi Gus, how are you? what has happened to you guys? have spent many days without knowing travel plans or travel. is everything okay?

greetings!

:huh:huh:huh