What’s Your Number?

What’s your number?

Life is a numbers game.

Here are a few to chew on.

1,111: The distance, in miles, from my home in Carbondale, Colorado, to Monterey, California. I’ll have a bowl of clam chowder there on June 2.

1,344: The distance, in miles from my home in Carbondale, to Jasper, Alberta (Canada). I’ll have a bowl of poutine there on June 11.

51,000: The number of words it took me to blog about last year’s Harley ride, an 18-day adventure that culminated in Sturgis, South Dakota.

26,391: The number of days of my existence, beginning on February 24, 1950. LTD (Life to Date).

14: The number of Harley trips I’ve taken since I began long-distance riding in 2009.

51,000: The number of miles I’ve ridden on a Harley, on these trips.

197: The number of blog posts about those trips (including this year’s journey).

100: In percent, the probability you’ll receive a blog post from me every day from now until June 20.

15: The number of hours until I hit the “start” button on my Harley. Let the vrooming begin.

Life is a numbers game.

What’s your number?

***

If you haven’t guessed by now, tomorrow morning I fire up my 2016 Harley Street Glide Special and begin a 24-day journey. The highlight of this year’s trip is the Icefields Parkway, a spectacular highway in the Canadian Rockies that connects Banff National Park, and Jasper National Park.

Conde Nast Traveler magazine considers it one of the top drives in the world.

Words cannot adequately describe the beauty of that 144-mile drive. I won’t even try.

The Canadian Rockies: awesome and epic.

If you love the verbal descriptions that are a staple of my daily blog posts when I’m on the road, you might be disappointed this year. I’m gonna give the words a bit of a breather, and let my pictures do most of the talking.

At least that’s the plan.

But words are my happy place. You never know what’ll happen when I sit down at a keyboard.

***

The route over the next 24 days is simple. There are basically four parts.

Part 1, “Transit” – Three days to Henderson, Nevada, where I connect with my riding pal, Dave Bowman. After a rest day (what happens in Nevada, stays in Nevada), we pass through Death Valley National Park, and the portal to the highest mountain in the lower 48, en route to the California coast.

Badwater Basin, hot stuff in Death Valley.

Part 2, “Pacific Coast” – From San Simeon, home of the Hearst Castle, we head up the Pacific Coast Highway, over the Golden Gate Bridge, following the Pacific Ocean coastline through California, Oregon, and Washington – 1,300 glorious miles – until we reach the Strait of Juan de Fuca. While in the Pacific Northwest, we tour the San Juan Islands archipelago, on ferries and motorcycles.

California Dreaming … a June 3 destination.

Part 3, “Canada, eh” – We enter Canada via a tiny town named Osoyoos, British Columbia, then head north for a week of riding that takes us through the Canadian Rockies, to several world-class ski resorts, with opportunities galore for poutine.

Nothing says Canada like the Canadian Rockies.

Part 4, “Heading Home” – Our final week on the road takes us through mountainous regions of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah. We’ll ride for hundreds of miles along river banks that include the Kootenay, Clearwater, Locsha, Snake, Payette, and Salmon Rivers.

Riding the rivers.

That’s what I’ll be doing for the next 24 days.

Hope you’ll come along for the ride.

***

Since 2009, I’ve written nearly half a million words to describe my rides around the US, and Canada. I’ve posted several thousand photos.

Those are my numbers for the day.

What are yours?