Since we returned from our 2021 summer travels we have been asked several questions about the trip and the trailer. Here are the answers to some of those questions. If there is something else you’d like to know, please post your question in the comments.

What was the favorite place you visited?

• Utah – We’ll go back and spend more time visiting the National Parks and enjoying the amazing natural formations.  

What other places did you enjoy visiting?

• Cathedral Gorge campground. It had a very laid-back vibe.

• Soap Lake campground. It had lots of activities available.

• Huckleberry Campground in Richardson Grove State Park in California. It was lovely to camp among the redwoods.

What did you enjoy most about the trip?

• Not having to ride hard every day to meet a schedule. On most of our previous trips, we’d rush to our meet-up destinations by going 500 to 600 miles in a day on mostly interstates. This was more enjoyable, scenic, and allowed us to choose US Highways and other secondary roads.

• Visiting our Road Glide family at Shark Week XI.

What was your least favorite part of the trip?

• We had a great time visiting our niece in Oakland, CA, but the climb up the hill to her home was very steep and one I don’t want to repeat while hauling a trailer.

• Having to deal with getting the damaged axle replaced was a distraction that diminished our enjoyment. We were fortunate the Time Out factory rep. was able to get us a replacement from his stock very quickly and there was an RV repair shop near our Lake Tahoe-area meet-up hotel to do the work.

What did you like about having the trailer?

• We saved money by camping instead of staying in hotels. Some hotel rates were sky-high as travelers returned from Covid-related restrictions.

• The kitchen equipment we took allowed us to cook the meals we like and as a result, we each lost 13 lbs. We attribute the weight loss to being active, not snacking, and not eating in restaurants.

• The trailer is easy to pull, has a lot of room inside, and has a comfortable bed.

What were the down-sides of having the trailer?

• While the trailer made it easy to setup camp and kept us off the ground, we were still tent camping. We encountered temperatures in the mid-40s along the Pacific Coast and very uncomfortable hot, humid weather east of the high plains.

• Finding places to park the bike and trailer during rest stops presents a challenge. We looked for parallel parking spots a block off a main street or end-to-end spaces in parking lots.

• The axle of our camper was damaged and had to be replaced. We went through two sets of tires before we figured out the optimum tire pressure.

What trailer equipment worked well?

• We like the overall design of the trailer. It’s fairly easy to setup, although it really requires two people to open and set the top.

• The 5lb propane tank, which we used for cooking, lasted about 40 days.

• We were able to pack a lot of equipment inside the trailer.

• The solar panel worked well. It kept our power station fully charged.

• The extra straps I added for bundling the canvas made it much easier to load our equipment.

What equipment would you change?

• Dealing with ice for the cooler was annoying. The cooler did not insulate well, so we had to get ice every day. We had to put food in containers that wouldn’t leak when the melted iced fill the bottom of the cooler.

• After we got back we purchased a 12v/120V refrigerator, which will replace the cooler. The solar panel and power station should power it easily. I will have to find a way to pack the trailer to counter the potentially greater tongue weight.

• We purchased a small propane heater that uses 1lb bottles. It didn’t provide enough heat and of course using 1lb bottles is wasteful. We need to get a slightly larger heater that we can run from the 5lb, refillable tank.  

What effect did the trailer have on gas mileage?

• My bike gets 44mpg without the trailer and averages 36 mpg when pulling the trailer.

What was your experience staying with Bunk-a-Biker hosts?

• We enjoyed all the visits with our BaB hosts. They were gracious and generous. Staying in an air conditioned guest room was welcome relief from the heat and humidity. We will definitely contact more hosts next year. We have set up our spare bedroom to accommodate guests and have become BaB hosts.

What were the temperature extremes you encountered?

• One afternoon we rode through hot, (107F/42C) dry Kansas and Eastern Colorado. At the other extreme we woke a couple of mornings to damp, bone-chilling 46F/8C along the Oregon coast.

Would you do another long trip with the trailer?

• Yes. We are planning to go to Alaska in 2022 followed by the Motor Maids convention in Rapid City, SD, and Shark Week XII in Appleton, WI.

What are some of the statistics of your trip?

• Our journey lasted 50 days and we rode 9,803 miles.
• We rode on 47 of the 50 days.
• We consumed 470 gallons of gasoline.
• We camped 29 nights
• We stayed indoors with Bunk a Biker hosts, friends, or family, 10 nights
• We stayed in hotels 10 nights

Here’s the Map