I feel more confident in myself to plan a ride as far as 1500 miles away, and go it solo if necessary. My bike is a sportster model which Harley sells with a stock peanut gas tank. My tank will get about 80 mi., and close to 100 on a good day. For me, that means watching how far I can travel without the reliability of a gas station nearby. Because nobody wants to be stranded in the middle of the desert without gas, I've been reluctant to travel alone--not that a riding partner could do very much in the way of producing enough petrol to make it out safely--I've relied on the kindness of riders I've met at various events who've welcomed me to join their group. I can't describe how helpful it's been to be able to focus on safety and not worry about destination so much.
That's all gradually coming to an end as I've been spending time plotting routes thru Utah and into Wyoming, with alternate routes going thru Colorado in the event of rain. I am really interested in committing a much detailed info as possible to memory. And I am achieving this by writing down the major Towns along the main highway I plan to travel (in black letter).
Yes it feels odd, but I started to run out of things to do when work was slow. So I began to refresh my memory on the calligraphy script for Fraktur. It's a good stress release. My ABC's got boring after awhile and I decided to write aimless words down for the sake of variation. The pattern of random words became Towns, then resting spots, distances between pit stops, and finally scenic routes. My goal is simple. Route a path to south Dakota by going thru Nevada on interstate 15, thru Utah and Wyoming; then create an alternate route thru Colorado in case of bad weather. It's a slow process, since I'm hand printing these drinking instructions, but my intent is on recognizing towns I pass which I can use to acknowledge that I'm still on the right highway headed in the correct direction.