3000 Mile Motorcycle Ride: The 4 Best Roads of the Ride

This is my second ride to Denver from Tennessee.  Going to Wisconsin first really made this ride special although longer, the approach to Denver was new to me, with a completely new perspective.   Here are the highlights from the 4 best roads of the ride.   These roads are ingrained in my memory.   While on these roads I achieved nirvana on a motorcycle; it was a complete religious experience.   For people that ride this is what it is all about.  It's always about the journey, it's about the ride.



I love lonely roads;the feeling of complete isolation stirs the soul.   These 4 roads have this in common.  On these roads there are 3 equally defining parts of the experience, that you can feel deep in your marrow.  The rush of the road beneath your wheels, a direct connection to the world at that given moment, and a feeling that you are the only one really alive.   These 3 things create a freeing detachment from the rest of the world.  It is the drug that I can not get enough of.


South Dakota Route #44:   Leaving Iowa crossing the Big Sioux River in South Dakota US Highway 18 joins Route #44.   Corn fields start to give way to a more western landscape; big skies and rolling grasslands.  Riding along you are hit in the face with the Missouri River and the valley that it dominates the road for the the next 30 miles.  You seem to be alone in the west in complete bliss.



Nebraska Route #88:   In the panhandle of Nebraska you realize that this is not your farmers Nebraska.  Route # 88 is dominated by bluffs as you head out Bridgeport.   Say goodbye to the world, you will be on a different planet for the next couple of hours.   I stop for a drink of water and feel like I'm on the set of an old western.  I don't remember seeing a car on this road.  Is it a good thing or was it a short step back into the twilight zone.


Kansas Route #177:   Headed south out of Manhattan Kansas it's not long you come to the K#117 overlook.   Take a look at 200 or 300 miles of plains just riden.  When traveling through Kansas stay off of Interstate 70 and see the real Kansas.   Riding south on K177 there are long sweeping turns with changing views that will stop your heart.  Arriving in Council Grove I get gas and catch my breath.   It takes a while to savor the experience.


Missouri Route #17:  After leaving the twisting roads of the famous route #66, you turn south on Missouri 17.  It is downhill to US Highway 60 and then 4 short hours to my home in good old Tennessee.  First it is this road that I must conquer.   Back in the south it is twisting roads in the company of hardwood timber.  Rivers and the road flow south fast towards the Mississippi. The morning dew rising from the valleys gives the road a feeling of perfection that will not last into the afternoon.

Back home in the deep south I start to sing Rocky Top it is good to be home in Tennessee.  Looking back I realize that these roads are now part of me and no one can ever take them away.