Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

Thanks for that @icemang! Here is the link to the spot tracker which will give you an idea on the route that I took. The US is a beautiful country for motorcycling. There is a common perception here about motorcycle being dangerous but as long as you stay visible and watch out, you will be fine. In the entire ride of 11,500 miles, only one car tried to cut me off by jumping into my lane. Otherwise it was very smooth with no close calls at all! Ha ha hope you come here soon. Ride safe!

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Day 19 (May 15, 2014):

I started pretty late today, around 10 in the morning after breakfast. I did not have a fixed destination for the night. So the plan was to ride east how much ever I could and then break for the night but first I had to do an oil change. This would be the last oil change of the ride.






After changing the oil, I kept riding on the interstate. There would be interesting views once in a while. Otherwise it was just riding in straight 4 lane roads throughout. After a while, I saw signboards to some car museum. Since I had no plans and no fixed stop for the night, I decided to visit it. I spent around 30 minutes in the beautiful place that had cars from 1910 to 2000! There were quite a few really beautiful cars.






















After the visit to the museum, I continued my ride. I just stopped for fuel and short breaks. I had ridden more than 400 miles towards the end of the day and then I found a motel in a small town.

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

Imagine covering even 1150 miles in India with nobody coming across your bike!
BTW wonderful pics of the museum.

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

For sure! And thanks!


Day 20 (May 16, 2014):

I entered Montana the day before yesterday evening and even after riding east for almost 600 miles, I was still in the same state! The plan for today is to get to the city of Minneapolis. It seemed to be quite ambitious as it was around 700 miles away. There was a longer but quicker route of taking the interstates and the 700 miles was through two lane state highways. I thought I would give it a shot by starting a little early. I was on the road at around 7 in the morning, all pumped up and charged. It started freezing after a while, but the ride was simply beautiful!






I was riding southeast now and it was still freezing. In a while, I entered North Dakota.




I kept eating light and riding hard. I entered South Dakota next.




This road was surrounded by farmlands throughout and there were small birds that keep coming in your way. They would be sitting on the side of the road and when they see you, they would fly low in your path. I knew I would hit one of them and pretty soon I hit one. I did not kill it though but it hit my headlight pretty hard. Otherwise the ride was fun with some really good views all around.

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

I simply love the fact that you make it a point to click a photo while entering a new state.

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

Awesome travelogue and even more awesome pics.

Best part - the reason behind the ride.

Keep the pics coming!

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

Glued to the travelogue....keep it coming.

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

It is for sure a great and lifetime experience. You do have a great spirit that you pulled this all together solo ! Kudos to you for doing such a wonderful ride. I am sure you must have got a lot of learning's for yourself from this trip. and yeaa the pictures are amazing.. m wondering on the luck of bike.. it got 3500 miles in 13 years n the next 3500 in 13 days I hope you did tell the previous owner of your bike about this !

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

48 states in 23 days... OMG... you are the lord of Solo Bikers Bro... Hatsoff... Keep coming with the new updates..

I will make sure not to miss any of your updates

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

I had wanted to do that right from the initial stages of the planning phase. I missed two states though, New Jersey and Wisconsin.


Thanks dude. Unfortunately, I did not shoot a lot of pics because it was more of an endurance ride.


Thanks sir! Last triplog will be posted today.


Ha ha yes I did tell him about the ride when I bought the bike from him. He was just blinking because he had ridden only 3500 miles in 13 years. I bought it two weeks before the ride. In less than two months after buying, the ODO jumped from 3,500 miles to 15,000 miles!


Thanks for the kind words bro. This will be the last of the trip logs, but feel free to post any questions and I would be more than happy to answer them.




Day 21 (May 17, 2014):

The actual plan was to ride to Chicago today, but a family friend in Minneapolis told that he would arrange two small fundraising events for me in the city to meet some people there and tell them about my cause. So I extended my ride by a day and stayed back in Minneapolis. I woke up late, got ready and went to the first venue. Oh yes, I had to get the bike chain tightened one last time. Saw a Ducati Monster there with pooja done on it.






The first fundraiser was in a school and I was talking to a few Indian parents there about my cause. I had been explaining about the ride to so many people now so that came in a rehearsed way. They were all very interested in the cause. Then came a sweet surprise next, they took me into a room which had around 30 small kids with their parents and I was given a microphone and asked to talk to them all about my cause. The kids were all very interested to hear about what I was doing, since it involved a motorcycle and I was doing something for kids. I explained to them in a few minutes what I was doing but the best part was yet to come. All the sweet and innocent questions they asked me in the Q&A session were what made my day. Finally some parents came and took pictures of me with their kids, kids asked their parents to donate the money in their piggy banks to my cause, all the love, encouragement and support there, phew! It just blew me away!




















Then we went to my family friend’s house where they threw a fundraising dinner for me. A few of their close friends were invited and I spoke to them too about my cause. The stop in Minneapolis did make a huge difference in the fundraiser! Thanks guys!


Day 22 (May 18, 2014):

My roommate and friend from Cincinnati had come up to Chicago to receive me and have a small early celebration before the ride was to get over. He did not know of the plan change and he was sitting in another friends place waiting for me to come. So I promised them I would make it for lunch to Chicago. So I started early in the morning and made it to Chicago for lunch! It was a little hot ride and nothing very eventful happened. The distance was around 450 miles but I rode continuously and got there for lunch! By now, my riding endurance had increased a lot! The rest of the day was spent relaxing in Chicago and getting ready to do the final run back to Cincinnati.




Day 23 (May 19, 2014):

The ride was coming to an end today! I have been on the road for the past 22 days and I had been through 45 states. I had to ride through 3 more states and I would have hit all the 48 states! I was excited to get back home, little sad that the ride was going to be over but I was happy for the great experience and the impact created through this ride. I slowly saddled up in the morning, bid goodbye to my friends in Chicago and hit the road. I had to ride east for a while to hit Michigan, and then I had to go south to Cincinnati. I rode through Indiana and hit Michigan.






I then took a U-turn from there and backtracked around 30 miles. From there I kept going south till I reached Indianapolis. The distance for today’s ride was less than 400 miles and I was a little lazy too. So I rode taking quite a lot of breaks, not in the mood to get home early. There was a lot of traffic before and around Indianapolis because of a few accidents. I was stuck in slow moving traffic for almost 2 hours. Of course there was so much gap in between cars and you are tempted to ride through them but it is illegal to do so here.




A little late in the evening, I entered Ohio. I still had to hit Kentucky though. Cincinnati is in the border of Ohio and Kentucky. I had planned to do a trial run the day before the ride started but I couldn’t make it. So I went into Kentucky, took a picture and then came back home. I parked the bike in the parking lot, removed all the bags and took it home. Some good friends along with beer and a proper Cincinnati dinner were waiting for me there. I took a shower and joined them. It was the perfect way to end the really long ride.

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

Good one Bro!!!!! Appreciate every mile munched. This is "a ride" to RESPECT. Hats off!!!!!

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

Determination and goodwill can take help you achieve anything..Really impressed by your journey, a journry for a cause. Also you can feel content cause of making an effort to help man kind and nothing is better than helping children who are the only ones to show their true colours. Have a great life a head man

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

Continues to be awe-inspiring.

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

Thanks bro!

For sure! Thanks a lot man!

Thanks Krishna!

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

Being an Indian, I can imagine how difficult it must've been to resist your temptation of taking the gaps in traffic. Man if I don't take those here, I won't reach anywhere in the city on time.

Splendid and captivating log overall, mate!

Re: 48 States of the USA, 11,500 miles (18,500 km), 23 days, a Solo Fundraising Bike

Absolutely correct!