Welcome to the Singleton Travel Blog! This blogsite is dedicated to the motorcycle travels of father (Joe Singleton) and son (Graham Singleton). The idea of a father/son cross country motorcycle trip began almost 4 years ago when I (Joe) promised Graham, that upon high school graduation we would take a month during the summer and ride to the west coast. Although this was to be an award for graduation, I have to admit that it has been a “bucket list” item of mine since I was his age. I have been riding motorcycles since I was 15 – beginning with a Honda 160 dream. My first Harley, a 1976 Sportster, was purchased in 1979. The purchase of a home and the birth of our first child, Tara, prompted the sale of the Sportster in 1983. It wasn’t until 1992 that the Harley itch needed scratched. I became the third owner of a 1967 Electra Glide with less that 15,000 mi. This was my primary motorcycle until 1996 when I decided to buy a more reliable, safe and comfortable ride – a 1993 Electra Glide Classic 95th Anniversary. This bike served me well until the 100th Anniversary models came out and I was able to sell the ’93 and buy a new ’03 Electra Glide Classic. In anticipation of traveling, I purchased a BushTec trailer to pull behind my bike.
Graham has been riding motorcycles since he was 12. His first bike was a Yamaha 125 dirt bike. My requirement for him to ride a street bike was to attend a motorcycle safety course. We both completed the ABATE Beginners Motorcycle Safety course in April of ’08. In December of ‘08 Graham fulfilled the requirements for high school graduation and we started getting serious about planning our trip and looking for his motorcycle. The next addition to our Harley family came in January of ’09. Graham finally narrowed his choice of ride to a Softtail Deluxe. On January 5 we were fortunate to find a reasonably priced ’07 Deluxe with less than 6,000 miles. We found a decent mid-January day to take the below picture of Graham and I on the two bikes that we will be taking on our summer trip.
The Trip
We are in the intermediate stages of planning our calendar and route for the July 7 – August 8 trip. Here is a tentative route:
U.S. Highway 50 from Washington, IN to San Francisco, CA. with stops and side trips in: Colorado to cousin Brooks Harting’s cabin in Taylor Park, Utah at Canyonlands and Arches National Parks, California at Yosemite National Park and San Francisco at Alice’s Restaurant, Haight-Ashbury District and the Golden Gate Bridge. The plans are to continue up the Pacific coast on Hwy 101 to the Portland, OR area. In the area surrounding Portland we will take in some Lewis and Clark history, Mt. St. Helens and the Hood River area. Our return ride will begin with a trip across the northern part of Idaho to Glacier National Park in Montana. From Glacier we will ride south to Yellowstone and the Jackson Hole area where we will meet up with my wife, Susie, who will fly out to Jackson. We will join up with family friends that will be vacationing in Jackson and do some rafting, hiking and relaxing and recovering. The final leg of our trip will take us to Sturgis, South Dakota for the famous motorcycle rally. After a couple of days in the Sturgis/Mt. Rushmore/Black Hills area we will stop a day or two in Parkston, S.D. for a visit with family and friends. By this time, I’m sure we will be ready to get home and will most likely make straight to Washington, IN. We estimate that the total mileage will be 6,000 – 6,500 miles.
Although the route planning is a chore, the difficult part about planning the trip is the “stuff” that we need to take. We will be camping most of the time – which means tent, mats, sleeping bags, cooking utensils and supplies, clothes for all kinds of riding conditions, etc., etc. We have been researching, accumulating and acquiring needed items – still some things to get but we are making progress.
Future postings will depend on the weather. We are planning 2 or 3 pre-trip rides to get our rear ends in shape, test drive our camping equipment, set-up and tear down techniques and make sure we have all the basics purchased for the trip. We have visited many websites, read books, purchased maps and consulted with other travelers but we could still use any helpful ideas. If you have some advice about sites along the way, camping or traveling tips or resources we can use to make our travels more enjoyable, please contact me through this blog or email me at:
mecllc@rtccom.net
