Five day trip through Arizona, S. Nevada, and a bit of S. Utah

[Azgeek]

I just returned from a great solo trip through some fantastic scenery of the desert Southwest USA. The bike handled very well and did everything I asked of it.
I shot GoPro video (helmet forward, top case rear view) through some of the more scenic sections of the trip. I averaged over 52 mpg for the entire trip, with my
speeds along the less-traveled roads in the 65 - 75 mph rage, so I am pretty happy with this bike's fuel economy. I had one morning of some fierce wind that really
pushed the bike around, making for an interesting ride especially through the Virgin River Gorge on the way to St. George, Utah. My longest rides were on the first
and last days (~440 miles each), with 1,739 miles total for the round trip. I froze my butt off on the ride to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and again on the
last day leaving from Page, AZ. The last day saw riding through a low of 31.7F in the morning and a high of 96F as I returned home that late afternoon. All in all
a great ride. Perhaps not as comfortable as when I did a similar ride on a rented R1200RT, but I actually enjoyed this ride more. The weather was great (other than the wind).

Here's a short (2m:28s) montage of the video shot along the way. HD (1080p) is the best quality:

[Daboo]

Thanks for sharing. I tried to compare the GT on the same stretch with the RT. It appears the RT was bouncing more. But maybe I'm just imagining it.

I want to ride through that area next summer. Maybe I can pick your brain for the best time to go, and what to see?

Chris

[Azgeek]

I want to ride through that area next summer. Maybe I can pick your brain for the best time to go, and what to see?
Chris

Thanks, Chris. PM me anytime and I'll give you my thoughts on the area. This was my 4th trip to Valley of Fire / Lake Mead National Recreation Area and I still have not had my fill of that area.
I tried a couple of new routes on this trip that worked out well and will likely follow them on future trips. This last trip was my second mc trip to the area, with my previous trip on the RT also in
the month of October. I've been in the area in the summer (June) and it was pretty freakin' hot. Great early morning temps but between 105 and 110F during the hottest parts of the day. Page, AZ
was not as toasty but I was still glad I was driving in an air conditioned vehicle on that trip.

- Sam

[sweatmark]

I shot GoPro video (helmet forward, top case rear view) through some of the more scenic sections of the trip.

Two GoPros, or single cam moved from mount to mount?

Hoping to do some moto travel videos myself next season.

[Azgeek]

Two GoPros, or single cam moved from mount to mount?

Two GoPros. I use a single remote for both so I can pick which scenes I want to shoot. I have a portable battery pack that I keep in my riding jacket pocket and use that to power the helmet cam. The top case cam is powered from the Powerlet outlet on the right hand side of the bike. I also keep the remote powered by the portable battery pack so I never have to worry about things shutting down because of battery death. I've learned over the years that, as much as I like the GoPro cameras, their battery life is dismal. Keeping things on a separate battery supply means I can keep the Bluetooth radios going so I can always control the cameras when I want.

[Daboo]

I use a Sena 10C and have to do the same sort of thing. Battery life without the camera on is a couple days. With it on, it is around 2 hrs. When I'm on a road trip, I either run a USB cord to a power outlet, or to a cell phone battery charger pack. Either works, but it would be nice not to have that limitation.

Chris