Touring

Route 66 history

The following was taken from an IBMWR posting by Frank Glamser:

Quote:
The original Route 66 number was assigned in 1926 as the highway from

Road conditions, any state

The site touts

For a Fast Look At Updated Current Highway Road Travel Conditions, Traffic Reports and Live Look At Traffic cams and Highway Travel Weather Conditions Right Now, Click On Your State

Canada firearms restrictions, import declaration

Here is a link to the form. A link to the Centre is in the text below.

Description from U.S. consular site:

Canadian consular sheet from U.S. Department of State

My first motorcycle cross-country trip

This is not ALL about that one trip, but a piece of it that was prompted by a message on the IBMWR email list today. The discussion was about rain gear and it had turned to the relative merits of double-flapped zippers.

Ride ideas in Arizona and New Mexico

From the IBMWR list re: Western New Mexico and Eastern Arizona by Ira Agins:

US 191 between Clifton and Alpine, AZ.  Forty miles of twisties
followed by 50 miles of sweepers. One of the finest motorcycling
roads in the US.

The ride up to the Gila Cliff Dwellings.

NM 152 west of Hillsboro.

A slice of pie at the Pie-O-Neer restaurant in Pie Town.

 And from Brian Lally

Motorcycle crash statistics from the insurance information institute

the institute wrote:
KEY FACTS

  • In 2004, 4,008 people died in motorcycle crashes. According to preliminary data, the U.S. Department of Transportation says that in 2005, 4,315 motorcyclists died in crashes, up 7.7 percent from 2004.

  • There were 5.4 million motorcycles on U.S. roads in 2003, according to latest data available, compared with 131.1 million passenger cars. Motorcycles accounted for 2.3 percent of all registered motor vehicles and 0.3 percent of vehicle miles traveled.

  • Some 88,000 motorcycles were involved in crashes in 2004.

  • Motorcyclists were 34 times as likely as passenger car occupants to die in a crash in 2004, per vehicle mile traveled.

  • The fatality rate for motorcyclists was 4.8 times the fatality rate for passenger car occupants per registered vehicle in 2004.

There was later this additional comment on the IBMWR list which I think is very insightful and food for thought for the entire crowd I ride with.

Richard I. Cook (ri-cook at sbcglobal.net) wrote:
We got these stats presented in the MSF class I took last Fall. I believe them to be both representative and significant. It is clear that the increase in motorcycle purchases is largely buying by older men. (I am one.) These men have the disposable income and the inclination to buy larger displacement (>1000 cc) machines. They also have a variety of problems with decreased reaction time, poorer eyesight and hearing, generally poor physical conditioning, and little free time to devote to riding. (Me again *sigh*) This is a potentially lethal stew and one need only add a final dash of seasoning -- a little bad weather, an unfamiliar road, darkness, the distraction of a pretty scene -- to create a catastrophe.

Colorado Peaks

Link to main page of Colorado Peaks:  http://www.climber.org/data/peaks/COpeaks.html

To get a list of all peaks starting with a particular letter enter, e.g.

http://www.climber.org/data/peaks/COpeaksE.html  for all starting with E.  Case sensitive. 

Motorcycle Camping Trip Checklists

Here are a couple of checklists (see below) for motorcycle touring and camping.

One is a custom one that I've adapted for my own needs (BMWTripChecklist.txt), the other is a generic one that I found somewhere (BMWTripChecklist2.txt).  There is also one in a nifty web page format that looks very nice and is suitable for printing.  The checklist can be "checked" online and then print, and there are a number of blanks in each section to write in your own goodies.

Map24 - online mapping

It's free, and looks pretty good. Might replace mapquest and yahoomaps. Find and address and optionally get routing directions.
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