Family history of motorcycles, grandfather rode Indian's and Harleys, father rode (everything street and dirt) in his day, step dad rode Harleys, uncle rode dirt bikes. Received a helmet and Baja minibike on my 6th birthday and never looked back. I've had many bikes over the years. As a husband and father, motorcycles weren't the top focus through the years, but there was always one in the garage. As our sons became more independent, wife and I would take weekend trips 2-up. My wife was a beast in the twisties (as a pillion), and we frequently rode all around the Smokey Mts. including Tail of the Dragon. Then on a motorcycle ride to California (we live in Southern Indiana), she suddenly decided she should be able to ride - for safety, if anything were to happen to me. That was in 2010, and the next year, after riding my BMW R1150RT for the first time - from the seat, she claimed the bike saying, "I don't know what you're ggoing to ride, because this is mine." My response was a BMW K1200GT, and we proceeded to ride, typically 10-15k miles a year since then. We've been through many bikes during that time, trading and upgrading, and once my wife totalled a beautiful 1200RT. We've been all across the US, all 48-states most of them multiple times. Iron Butt SS1000 (St. Louis to Bowman ND in 24hrs documented), Cali multiple times, Down to San Antonio, all along the Lake Superior coastline from Ste. Marie to Ironwood, along the Atlantic coast to Bar Harbor Maine, the highes paved road (summit of Mt. Evans), full-lenght of the BRP and Skyline (several times), full-length of Natchez Trace, all over the Ozarks (multiple times), through the heart of the Navajo Nation, the entirety of US129, all over N.GA Mts., Mt. Washington (VT), Glacier NP, Grandfather Mt., Mt. Rainier, and every named road we could find; Snake, Beartooth Pass, Rattler, Moonshine 28, SixGap, Diamondback, Devil's Triangle, Ohio's TripleNickel, Back of the Dragon, and our tipical (few times a year) Tail of the Dragon & Charohala Skyway. Wife has been on (her favorite) BMW R1200R (90th anniversary model, and equipped for touring) for a few years now, while I usually ride the R1200GS (Triple-black and equipped like a GSA) and also have a K1200GT - which I consider to be one of the best bikes ever made.
On the skills side, we've done Abate basic and advanced (multiple x), Total Control (with Lee Parks), California Superbike (at Barber on S1000RR's), and try to keep our bikes and ourselves in good condition, all-the-gear-all-the-time.
We're headed back to Montana again this year (BMW MOA national rally) with a Colorado mountains pre-party! Other than that, likely the typical Smokey Mts., and maybe another Ozarks this year. The various sections of the Mark Twain Forrest have spectacular roads cut through them - especially around Casper. We usually stay in Eureka Springs.
For motorcycle audio, I use Shure SE315 (IEMs) connected to the Starcom1 wired systems installed in all our bikes. Wife prefers the helmet speakers (IEMs hurt small ears apparently). I prefer the Starcom1 for many reasons, one of the biggies is the push-to-tallk 5-mile GRMS radios we use to communicate. The range is necessary, as we typically get separated on twisty roads we frequent. Starcom1 doesn't seem viable now (no US distributor), so we are trying BT again (previous times failed). I see hope with the new Garmin Tread (GPS) that has 5-mile comms built-in. Once Garmin works-through the bugs, I'm hoping that or the Zumo XT (with comm base accessory) becomes a viable replacement.
