First cross country trip
Favorite items, how much did it cost, and more…
*Some of the below contains affiliate links, to which I may make a commission should you make a purchase
Salvation Mountain, just before entering Slab City, AKA “the town with no laws” 3-2023
From February 23 - April 9, 2023 (6 weeks total) I went on my first cross country trip. I had just purchased my bike several months before, a 2023 Triumph Tiger 900 GT Pro (not the low version), and had just completed a 3000 u-turns challenge on it. It’s a bit tall, but I knew with short rider tricks, it was only a matter of time before I got used it, and it’d be worth having that extra big tank for the long stretches of no gas stations across USA, and having that extra clearance when I’d take it off-road. I should mention… this is not the off-road Tiger, the Tiger Rally is. But I do 98% street riding - so I just switched it to off-road mode and changed out the tires to these ones so I could do the training with Jocelin Snow, and luckily kept them on a little longer because I ended up needing them on some of the roads after the class with Jocelin.
I left from Atlanta, GA and made it to Monterey, CA in 7 days. The weekend before, I went to Tybee Island to ‘test’ all these items… and also to be able to call this a coast-to-coast cross country trip.
Doodle at Mojave Nature Preserve, 3-2023
FAVORITE ITEMS
MUST HAVE FOR ME
Shatterproof sunglasses made to fit in a helmet - very thin temple stems - so it fits even if your helmet doesn’t have slots for glasses like my Arai does. (Yes, they can do prescription) Flying Eyes discount code DOODLE10
The most common accidents for motorcyclists is from someone turning left in front of the rider. The second is from someone hitting them from behind. So I’m all for anything that gives me increased visibility. My BrakeFree helmet light flashes when you stop or slow down, wire free. It has a little mounting bracket that makes it really easy to use and fit across multiple helmets. Use discount code DOODLE10
Salvation Mountain 3-2023
Been using my Cardo comm for years for listening to music, audiobooks, and directions on the road. I can attest it’s been tried and tested across torrential down pour, high wind advisories, dust storms, and extreme temperatures. Use discount code DOODLE
I went soft over hard bags because hard bags had 1 con against soft that made them lose against all its pro’s in my opinion: your leg could be seriously injured if trapped underneath it. Plus, the owner of my shop (who rides a Triumph Tiger 1200 and rides cross country every year) swears by Lone Rider bags, so I just copied him :P
Most of my gear was from REV’IT!
Entrance to the Underground Missile Bunker I stayed in - if this seems like an odd selfie to take, it’s because it was 100% for a YouTube thumbnail. I took about 16 more like this with different facial expressions.
OTHER MUST HAVE ITEMS
Hair keeper code DOODLE10
Portable GPS for you to track your BIKE
Portable GPS for family to track YOU
HOW MUCH DID IT COST?
For reference, I didn't do any camping, stayed mostly at mid tier hotels, and "Misc" included $1K for my dealership doing an inspection and setting up all my new mods on my bike, 2x tire changes in California to switch to off road tires for training with Jocelin and then back to street, shipping overflow items back home from West to East coast (including the extra tires), and some tourist things such as tours and souvenirs.
$1,023 - Gas (8,300K miles)
$8,224.43 - Hotels (45 days) ($1K of which was the Missile Bunker AirBnB)
$1,672 - Meals (lots of Door Dash deliveries to the hotel room)
$3,067.70 - Misc (see paragraph above)
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$13,985.02 = TOTAL
The day after I left, I emailed about 11 companies - all of which I was using their product on this trip and already knew that I really liked - and told them that I’d be creating 3 months worth of YouTube videos where their item would be in the videos - and asked if they were willing to sponsor this trip. About 8 of them said yes. And then I kicked myself for not reaching out to companies asking to sponsor my videos sooner (I am just coming up on my 6th year on YouTube this June). But thanks to my sponsors, these expenses were covered and then some. Yo’ girl might’ve had to go back to her office job if she hadn’t figured this one out.
What I used to record the series
Insta 360 *get the "motorcycle kit"for the stick that attaches to your bike
Sony ZV1F Vlogging Camera
GoPro chin mount code DOODLE10
GoPro *I used the 7 on this series - it is quite broken in places and would freeze up on me - about time I upgrade