Interesting how you can decide one day that you've had enough. Can you briefly summarize the places you've seen via the Valk.
The decision that it was time to "hang it up" was based on two things. First, the thrill of the ride was not as intense as it used to be. Second, I was beginning to have difficulty holding up over 1,200 pounds of Valk, riders and luggage at slow speed or no speed on off-camber stops. As you know, we always rode 2-up. During this last trip, I dropped the bike at a pull-out on the Canadian Icefields Parkway during an off-camber stop. This was the first time since I got the Valk in 1999, when it was new and I was inexperienced with it. Navigator's left leg was badly bruised when it was pinned to the ground by my part of the seat. (She kept her feet on the pegs. That is the only thing that kept her from breaking her leg.) We cut the trip short after we finished seeing the Jasper, Alberta area. When we got home, our "guardian angel" asked if she could retire. We said, "Yes, thank you for 43 years of dedicated service. Yep, we have ridden motorcycles together since June, 1966. The Valk gave us over 10 of those years and over 88,000 miles. Here's a pic of a map showing the routes we rode on the Valk.
She took us through 48 US States.
She took us through 5 Canadian Provinces.
She took us through 1 Mexican State
We are fortunate to have had such a "Great Run."
Ride Safe, Y'all.
