Looks like a great trip. I did a trip through a lot of the same places in late May and early June of last summer. 500 miles a day is a reasonable goal on an FJR touring trip, but a RDL seat will make the days much less tiring. My buddy and I did Chicago to Colorado Springs stopping overnight in Salinas, KS. Then we stopped in Colorado Springs and spent several days riding every Colorado byway we could. They wouldn't let us go up to Pike's Peak or through the RNP pass on US 34 for snow. we ended Colorado on the million dollar highway and out 4 corners into Utah. We skipped Moab and did our Utah touring on 95 to 24 to 12 through Capitol Reef, Devil's Staircase, Bryce Canyon and Zion. We hightailed to San Diego and did R & R and bike service for a few days with my brother there.
On the way home we did Sequoia. Yosemite, Reno, for a few days and on through Nevada and Idaho into Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Beartooth Pass, Montana, SD, MN and Wisconsin down to Chicago. It was a grand three weeks. BTW one annual national Park pass at $80.00 is good for 2 motorcycles for a year so we did the pass.
Beartooth Pass and the Chief Joseph Highway are sure grand motorcycle rides. I also thought that Grand Tetons was more enjoyable for motorcycle riding then Yellowstone, but liked them both. I thought that on I 90 in Montana they wouldn't care how fast we rode and the FJR is very accommodating for that thinking. I think we were over 100 most of the time. There was a point on a two lane out there where I passed an old guy in his SUV going about 120 while he was doing 65. A few seconds after I passed him my buddy on his BMW did the same thing. A while later we were stopped for aa break at a gas station and the old SUV guy pulled in while we were getting ready to leave. The guy went over to my buddy and was bitching him out for five minutes. When he was don he looked at me and just said "Oh and you too".
On those wide flat mileage stretches in the western US the FJR is supreme, because you can still be comfortable and can cruise at speeds well in excess of 100. My buddies BMW R1200R just can't quite do that like the FJR. The R1200R starts getting light in the front end at maybe 110 or 115, where the FJR is rock stable at 125. Sometimes he'd say, "All I want to do is try to keep you in sight".
Anyway, I had a great time reading about your trip and it brought back great memories.
