Great to see all these posts!
Yep, I ride for my health, ride long distances too. It is the best way to see the country. I smile when seeing the sign of Scenic Over Look, thinking that if people would ride motorcycles that they would not need to pull over for that scenery! The best scenic over look is on Hwy 50 in Kansas... Best due to what people are looking at.. Cows.. a stock yard of cattle! Too funny!
I wrote an E book. The title is "100,000 BMW Prayer Miles " by Timothy Lindstrom. You can find it at Apple on line stores. I rode this BMW 100 K in 5 years. Doing an average of 20,000 miles. People would come up to me who don't look seriously at motorcycles and say, "I don't put that kind of miles on my car!"
You are correct! I enjoy the ride, figuring out what the cage people are intending to do. The challenge of riding long distances to riding in snow storms or even ice storms.
I have often thought about taking a Ninja 250 across the fruited plain. A few of my friends have Goldwings with car tires on the rear. They also have extra gas tanks in the saddle bags. I had asked, where do you have your gear? Receiver hitch and one of those wire grid plates inserted with a plastic tub for the clothes!
Thanks!
Tim Lindstrom