Shawnee National Forest March 2009

Had another week of vacation with no plans, so decided to take a little trip down south to Shawnee National Forest . I wanted to get an idea of how many miles a day I could do to properly plan out our West Trip properly. Ryan Quandt (NomadicEquipment.com) had nothing happening this week so he decided to join me on his 650.

Ryan ended up getting a call to do an electrical job on wednesday.Which meant tuesday we had to head back.

325 miles 4 hours 48 minutes riding time and we arrived in Carbondale, Il. We got a room at a Holiday Inn, ate dinner, had a couple drinks and crashed. Next morning we woke up, ate breakfast , gassed up the bikes and headed to Giant City State Park. (Had to get some scenic riding in before we headed back even though it was a going to be a big trip home)

Took a few pictures and rode on.

It was a really nice ride to Alto Pass where there was an awesome view!

Before long it was after 12pm and we had at least a 7 hour trip to get home. Would not expect to do the same miles the 2nd day of riding. Of course it was much windier than the trip down so it was work! We separated our fuel and gas stops and stopped 4 or 5 times , stretched, kicked off the boots for a bit and got back on. Pulled in the driveway about 7:45 pm (just getting dark) exhausted. The entire 2 day trip ended up being over 700 miles and over 11 hours riding time on the bike. Had a great time , weather was beautiful and got some hours in the seat. Good trip!