Another Trip with the Honda NC750X

I just returned from a 3,468-mile, two-week trip east to Rhode Island, then Maine. My main purpose was to see my daughter, Tess, who just completed her qualifying exams in preparation for her dissertation in natural-resource economics. But like on all my long trips, I, too, got an education about riding my motorcycle.

With my daughter, Tess, after eating seafood
in sight of the beach in Rhode Island.

Starting from Dubuque, Iowa, I couldn't get out of town without my first construction-related detour. The bridge to Illinois, crossing the Mississippi River, was closed, forcing me to take the other Dubuque bridge into Wisconsin. An auspicious start.

I had left home early on a Saturday, and traffic wasn't bad for the first couple of hours. Then I hit Chicago and stop-and-go traffic. From there, I took the I-90 toll-road for a couple of days. Later, I rode through Providence, RI, and Boston, MA, again hitting stop-and-go on my way to Maine's Acadia National Park. Then I headed home through a massive heat dome and 4th of July traffic.  

Here are the main lessons:

• I greatly prefer riding the West over the East. The heat, humidity, traffic, and construction would have overwhelmed me back when I had less experience and different motorcycles.
• The Honda NC750X suited me well. I can flat-foot, which when stopped on the road is a great comfort.  
• The low center of gravity made driving near a huge number of trucks far less anxiety-inducing. And doing U-turns in the middle of nowhere left me pissed at Google Maps, not the motorcycle.
• The NC750X has plenty of power for merging onto interstates and for overtaking the "slow" cars and trucks that dared drop below 75 m.p.h. It has a top speed of 105 m.p.h. and a 0-60 m.p.h. time of 4.5 seconds.  
• With panniers on the back plus a waterproof bag for my camping gear, I carried everything I needed with space to spare.
• Before I left, I purchased a new mesh riding jacket from Sindt Motors, the source of my bike, encouragement, and knowledge. I love both the jacket and the guys at the shop. Riding through that heat dome in my old jacket wasn't possible.

In summary, this trip was about being comfortable with unpleasant riding conditions.

I'm now ready to take the bike in for its 16,000-mile maintenance. Not bad for two years of riding—and it's still early in the season!

Oh, one last thing.  Because of the low seat height and stability of the NC750X, I stopped and got off it a lot more.  Riding the Loop Road at Acadia National Park, it was easy to stop for photos or the famous popovers at the Jordan Pond House. Here are some of the photos:

The view from the back patio of the Jordan Pond House.

The creatively named Sand Beach.

Time to get back on the road!