I’ve been asked quite a few times what my favorite thing that we did on vacation, and what was the coolest thing we saw.  I can’t pick just 1 thing.  I don’t think I can even pick 10 things.  We were on the road for 24 days and most of those days were spent seeing cool new places.  And we saw so many different things!!

I know that the best thing about this trip was spending the time with Shawn & my Dad.  Every single day, for 24 days, we were able to make great memories together on the adventure of a lifetime!

I can list some the things that I am most thankful for:

• Safety & health – we all felt good, had a great time & made the entire trip without any injuries or illness.  Riding 9,774 miles & spending over 200 hours on a bike presents a lot of opportunities for illness & injury.
• Spectacular weather – we did hit rain 4 different days, but we saw people on bikes who had been rained on daily for 3 weeks.  We were extremely lucky.  I was only cold 1 day & even that only lasted a few short hours.
• Reliable bikes – we have heard horror stories of people needing parts & waiting a week for them to arrive.  We had a few minor issues, but we always got right back on the road.
• We all had fun!  24 days is a long time to spend with people you don’t live with.  We all had a great time & got along great!

I am going to compile a few lists & I’ll post pictures to go along with them.  Here are some of the lists I think I’ll create:

• Favorite roads
• Favorite campsites
• Most fun
• Most beautiful scenery
• Favorite ‘local’ spots
• Best gear (maybe include worst gear too)
• Things I would have done differently
• Cool signs
• Wildlife sightings
• Fortunate events
• Bike repairs
• Other lists TBD……

I haven’t traded pictures with Rob yet, but we did pick up copies of Dad’s pictures last night.  I currently have about 130GB of pictures & videos.  We have thousands of pictures from this trip.  I’ve already spent several hours sorting through them & I haven’t even scratched the surface of the massive pile.  The ones from our regular cameras (Sony & Cannon), the Virb and the Midland were pretty easy to get through.  The GoPro was set to take photos as frequently as every 5 seconds on some roads & we have thousands of pictures to go through.

Looking at our pictures, the bikes (and other gear exposed to elements) slowly transformed from clean, to dirty, to filthy, to…..  they may never come clean?  There are quite a few items that will be retired after this riding season due to the wear & tear of this trip.  But not the bikes.  They just need some TLC to get ready for our next adventure!