There's this contest

HOG has this Ladies of Harley Motorcycle Memories contest. You send in your story and wait a few months and totally forget about it and then one day you open up your mail box to find a big orange envelope that says, "OPEN IMMEDIATELY" on it. Then when you open it, it tells you that you're the grand prize winner, you get a $500 gift certificate (good for a new rear wheel), and you're in the next month's HOG Tales magazine.

But you have to be chick and have a really good story to tell and the ability to squash it down to one page.

What if I just dress like a lady?

Third time I'll be published by HOG. They ought to just hire me.

I'll see if I can find the article. I think I wrote it on my MacBook that I had to turn in when I left my job in NH. I must have it somewhere.

The one that matches my new front wheel. I think it's in my gallery of photos here.

I found three different versions. I think this is the one I sent in:

8,323 Miles

This is my second version of the story. In the first one I tried to give some detail on my route: what I saw, the people I met, and everything that happened. I should have known it wouldn’t work. I kept a blog while I was on the trip, and when I printed it out, it was over 50 pages long. We’re talking over 8,000 miles, through 27 states, over 23 days. I just can’t get it all on one page.

In January I decided to make this solo trip to California from New Hampshire. I would be staying with friends, camping, and splurge on the occasional cheap hotel room. I didn’t really have the money to do it, but I did have a credit card and the vacation time. It’s not the most responsible way to take a vacation, but I didn’t know when I’d have the chance to do it again.

I prepared for the trip as though I wouldn’t be returning. I made sure I had emergency contact information in places that would be obvious for first responders. I gave my adult son a list of people to call if I didn’t make it back. Grisly, yes, but I like to use Murphy’s Law to my advantage – if I’m prepared, it won’t happen. I had a friend who would bring my mail in every day. I brought along a small laptop computer so I could keep a blog, which kept my friends and family updated with my adventures and the knowledge that I was still alive and well.

I planned my route using both the Great Rides feature on the Harley-Davidson website and the Ride Planner tool. I actually got on the road a minute earlier than my planned time! It was a rainy morning, but that didn’t stop me. When you’re planning on riding for 23 days, you better plan for rain.

I can’t get into all the details, because there just isn’t enough room. I encountered extreme heat in South Dakota and a downpour through the Tetons that kept me from seeing anything other than the white and yellow lines. I met friends for life. I met friends for a day or two. I met people at every gas stop. Every time I stopped I was told how brave I was for taking this trip on my own. I’d always reply that I wasn’t brave, just crazy. On one of my long stretches of highway, I realized that I was experiencing the freedom that so many Americans had fought and died for. I’m very grateful for that, and when I came across a couple of Vietnam Veterans in Colorado, I thanked them for it.

Before I headed out, I knew this would be life-changing. After leaving a campground in Ouray, Colorado, headed towards New Mexico, I felt that the trip had renewed my faith in so much and given me faith where I had none before. Where I’ve always felt that I wasn’t as successful as I should be, I found that so many people wish they could do what I was doing. I no longer feel that I’m lacking anything. The most obvious change is that I’m moving to Colorado at the end of the month. I just can’t get enough of the wide open spaces that my Softail loves so much. Anything for my motorcycle.

The blog is still up if you really want to read the details. Or you can wait for the book. I'll send you an autographed copy. :roflmao:

Yes, I won. Sorry to be so vague. Poor writing skills I guess.

Chuck it's the upcoming issue for this article. March/April. The last one was a couple of years ago. They have the point-counterpoint articles that members write. I wrote on the one about couples each riding their own bike rather than two-up. They edited most of the good stuff out of it to the point that I hated it.

I was also on the website after writing in about my trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway in '06. It was under the Women and Motorcycling part in the riders section. If you go to the Riders tab now, my picture still comes up even though the story isn't there anymore. That was about 30 pounds ago - a fat picture and not very attractive, but they seem to like it. It's been up about a year. It's here. I liked that story better than most of the other women's, because most of the time women are talking about how their husband or boyfriend convinced them to learn to ride and then they got this bike for their birthday or Christmas or something and isn't life wonderful.

I'm skeptical. I know sometimes I get indignant about being treated differently because I'm a woman, but HOG eats this stuff up. It's their big marketing plan to sell to women, so I'm capitalizing on it. I'm such a slut. :roflmao:

Congrats, Abbey! Sweet that you get that bonus out of doing what you wanted to do anyway!

Maybe its time to take the "future" out of your signature line?

Congratulations Abby!
Don't forget the little people as you reach the top!

Nice piece.............the article that is.

I lived briefly in Driggs, Idaho which is just on the other side of the pass from Jackson Hole in Teton territory. That's a beautiful area. My sister got married at Grand Targhee where she worked. My bro-in-law (X now) was a flight instructor/tourist hauler for Red Baron Soaring. We got to take glider rides around the Tetons. It was awesome.

That was back in the 80's. I'm still wating for the time to do a nice trip like that with the old lady. One of these days I'll have to grab the bull by the horns and just do it.

Congratulations on your win and for having the ambition to take such a journey on your own. I'm not sure I would do it myself.

Peace