Riding the Four Corners by Bill Burston Bob and I really like to just ride, feel the hum of the engine and watch the pavement roll under our bikes. We’ve always ridden fast and long, but let me think back to the origin of this ride. Five years ago during the 100th anniversary celebrations in Milwaukee, Bob, my riding buddy first brought up the four corners ride. "Its something I want to do before I get too old" said he. Now I wasn’t about to suggest that maybe he was already too old at age 77, hell, maybe I was too old. 21 days to hit all four corners of the lower 48 states, sounds like a challenge. "Sounds Crazy!" echoed our wives. Now Arleen and Kathy have put up with Route 66, Lewis and Clark, The lower 48 both Eastern and Western campaigns and a bunch of coast to coast runs, so they are no wimps. However the idea of riding big miles day after day did not appeal to them. To tell the truth I wasn’t really enthusiastic, however I told Bob. "If you can’t find anyone else and decide to go, I will go with you". Fateful words. Fast forward to winter of 2007 and a call. "Lets do the 4 corners ride, this may be my last chance". "Well, Bob, when do you want to go?", thinking I might duck out of an obligation. "Anytime you choose" was the answer. I was hooked. OK, I can clear my calendar in May. And so it was set, we would start out the first of May and start the trip on the 3rd. Should we start in Maine or Florida? We would let the weather dictate that. The 4 Corners rally is a challenge set up by the Southern California Motorcycle Association (price of membership $20). They set the rules - ride your motorcycle to all four extreme points of the lower 48 States within 21 days. Verify by mailing in a gas receipt from a local service station, taking a picture at an official point, and recording your mileage and the telephone number from designated public phones. The shortest route is Madawaska, ME to Key West, FL to San Ysidro, CA to Blaine, WA (or the reverse). Other variations are longer, but can lead to other quests such as attempting to touch all 48 States during the ride. More than one rider has finished in Blaine WA and continued on to Prudhoe Bay in Alaska to do the 4 corners of the Continental US. By the end of May my bike was ready, I had pulled a 5k service and East Coast Harley had performed some checks and recommended new swing arm and wheel bearings (covered by my extended warranty). My tires would have to be replaced on the trip. On the 1st of May, Maine was having a BIG snowstorm with consequent flooding, so we decided to meet in Daytona. I took off at about 7 am from Springfield and by 7 pm was rolling into my favorite Daytona Beach motel. Bob who was coming from Kansas had packed it in at Lake City FL. If you haven’t been to Daytona lately, there is now an incredible biker complex in Ormand Beach with J&P Cycles, Daytona HD and motels and pubs. I couldn’t find my Do-rag, so bought another. (Of course, I found the "lost" one the next night in the bottom of my bag). Stayed the next night in Daytona which gave us a chance to rest up a bit and repack for the warmer climate. The next morning we were off for the 500 miles to Key West. Despite a few short, light showers we had great weather all the way to the Keys, then the unexpected. Seems like about 5000 bikers -the pedal type - were having a rally around and through Key Largo. The cages were afraid to pass, the cops were out to direct and the next 30 miles took about 2 hours- pain and suffering. By the time we hit Isle Mirada we were in dire need of a beer. I pulled into my favorite bar in the Keys- the Hog Pen and we spent a hour just chilling, then off to Key West. We took our pictures, got gas and then discovered that there were no rooms to be had. Some sort of folk artist convention. The nearest room was back in Marathon. Well, we went to the Post Office, and did our official mailing. Since this was a Saturday evening the mailings would not be postmarked until Monday to "officially" start the trip. This lag can give a few extra days to complete the trip and accounts for the record time for completion of the 4 corners - 4 days and 10 hours. Then we were off to Marathon. Checked into a local motel in Marathon and were directed to a little joint off the main track to have a great (that is- too much to eat) and tasty seafood dinner. The next morning we were up early and escaped the Keys before the pedal bikes had a chance to really jam things up. That evening we decided to quit in Live Oak, FL with a renewed appreciation of just how long the State of Florida is from tip to tip. The next day we detoured to downtown New Orleans for a coffee and beignet at the Café Du Monde before finally stopping in San Antonio for the night. High winds were forecast for West Texas and the constant 30 mph headwind really dropped the gas mileage. Bob’s Ultraclassic could hardly make 70 mph into the 40 mph headwind (although my 95 cubes really helped). The 50 mph headwind meant that we were doing an effective 130 mph when you factored in the 60 mph headwind. OK, I think you get the picture. We pulled into Deming, New Mexico that night. Went to the local steakhouse and had a lousy steak, but did manage to do our laundry at the local automat. Up early the next morning and rode to San Ysidro, CA to make our second point on our 3rd "official" day. The next day we rode down to the local post office to get a hand stamp on our official envelopes- which will be part of album provided by SCMA as part of the ride entry fee ($100). Then up Interstate 15 to avoid the LA mess and to hit Quaid’s HD in Temecula for new tires, and service and, not incidentally, meet some old friends for a wonderful sushi lunch. By 1430 we were back on the road and determined to get onto I-5 and completely free of LA traffic. By evening, we were past Bakersfield and just looking for anyplace to crash. Buttonwillow was as good as any place and the local Jack-in-the-box all the gourmet cooking we needed. California is another long State, but we were set on getting into Oregon by days end. We began to regret this when, clad in our San Joaquin Valley clothes, we climbed into the lower Cascades past snow covered Mt Shasta. The mist of the California mountains gave way to rain in Southern Oregon and we were thankful to pull to a stop in Medford. Up until now, we had not needed to confront any real traffic, but we knew that we would be hitting Seattle at a peak traffic time. Casually we mentioned that our goal for the next evening would be Blaine, WA- the third point. Dressed considerably warmer, we joined the mass of cages rolling into and through Seattle. Being in the lead, I hugged the HOV lane. A sudden halt to traffic had me on my brakes and Bob quickly veered into the open lane to his right. Now, as I followed when the lane had cleared again, did Bob stay to the right or did he rejoin the HOV lane? A split into two distinct paths required a decision. So I took the HOV. Needless to say, I arrived in Blaine about 45 minutes before Bob. Well, what the hell, I was able to scope out a motel, check the border crossing for an appropriate photo spot and get my gas before Bob pulled in to our designated rendezvous location. Dinner in a tavern - the beer was excellent. Especially so as I lifted an extra one to Mike Beibrich a friend of 25 years who had a fatal accident on the Pacific Coast Highway en route to this, his last checkpoint on the 4 Corners. The next morning, with photos, hand stamps at the PO and gassed up we were off through the upper Cascades toward our last point. The mountain passes still had the large mounds of snow on both sides, the skiers were still using the slopes and I was wishing that I hadn’t left my electric gloves at home. Coeur d’Alene, Idaho is a really beautiful spot and we were advised that the "best steak in the West" was to be had at Wolf Lodge Steakhouse at exit 22. That sounded good to us. The gravel parking lot and isolated location of the steakhouse as well as its slightly dilapidated exterior gave us pause. However, inside was warm, western, wonderful and the steak was the BEST. Easily comparable to any Ruth’s Chris, Morton’s or Capital Grill and a hell of lot less expensive. Now this was more like it! Our next stop was Billings Montana. We have been in Billings at least 4 times in the past 10 years on bike trips, so know it well. Beartooth HD had closed by the time we rolled in, but we had a nice meal at the Texas Roadhouse and bunked at the local Best Western just a mile down the road. Good thing, the next morning a funny thing happened as I backed my bike out of its parking spot. Put it in first and nothing happened, put it in 2nd, 3rd and 4th. To the same result. The speedometer indicated that I was doing 40! Then I spotted my drive belt lying under the bike. When Beartooth HD opened the service guys were great. They picked up the bike and, fortunately, had one drive belt -which fit my RoadKing. 2.5 hours later they had completed a 5 hour job and I was on my way, just a bit lighter in the wallet. As an aside, I do carry an emergency drive belt. This might be the only time I would ever need one and the breakdown occurred only a mile from a HD dealer. Go figure! The next stops in Dickenson, NDak, Minneapolis, Michigan City and Toronto went off without a hitch. The less said about the traffic in Chicago the better. Small children could someday read this report. The road from Toronto through Quebec was like a path back to the barn for a well worn horse. (I know which part of the horse you are thinking about- now stop that!) We had our last night of the trip in the lovely town of Riviere-de-Loup. The next morning there was only a hundred miles to Madawaska, Maine and our final point. Trip mileage was 7876. Of course I had 2360 miles getting to and home from the first and last points. Statistics are meaningless. If you love to ride you will understand why this trip is so attractive. We didn’t see much. We could have taken time to sightsee or meet old friends or do other things, but the "merit badge" for trip completion and a chance to put your name on the 4 corners monument at Madawaska is not the important part. It is the Zen like feeling of the lure of the road when you are at one with the bike and the wind and the road spinning under your wheels. Won’t do it again- once was enough, but there are sooo many trips to be made. PS: At the finish of the trip we encountered two riders finishing at the same time. Chris and John were from Richmond, VA and we had a really pleasant lunch, shared picture taking duties and tales from the road. The trip home from Madawaska started out wet-really wet- and cold. About 100 miles on the way to Bangor I stopped in a little station to take a pee and get warm. My "waterproof" gloves were soaked. From the back room the attendant produced a dry set of snowmobile gloves. "No problem, I had just put them in a pile of trash to be thrown out" Boy did they help! It is just more proof that the people of America are almost infallibly kind and generous. My advice is - forget the big stations and seek out the little guys running a few pumps and a country store. You will be rewarded over and over again. Bill Burston HOG Life Member East Coast Chapter Home