Guy
Boutin's Motorcycle Touring and Travel Pages
Adventures in Sport
Touring with the Honda ST 1100, 1300 and the BMW 1200RT
Exploring North America...One Road
at a Time
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Guy
Boutin's Motorcycle Touring and Travel Pages
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| National Park Quest The following photos and pages document the National Parks I have visited. There are 56 parks in the system, and I'd like to visit all in the lower 48. I'll form a strategy for Alaska when I complete the task at hand. I don't have a timetable for completion, I just plan to be slow and steady. I'll work them in as I tour the country, sometimes making one a specific objective, and on other rides just pick it off on my way to somewhere else, but I'll no longer ride by a park without stopping. Over the years and miles, I rode right by several of the parks not listed. Parks like Joshua Tree, Wind Cave, Acadia, and Badlands to name just a few. I probably rode by Mammoth Cave in Kentucky a half dozen times. On those rides I just didn't know any better. I guess I was always in a hurry to get to the major parks. I haven't had a agenda since completing the lower 48 several years ago (2003), but I think having all the National Parks will assure me I've seen everything I need to see, before turning my attention to elsewhere. Plus, it might be kind of fun checking them off. In my opinion having all the parks is more of a accomplishment then riding the lower 48, because some of the parks are really not on the way to anywhere, and must be stand alone destinations (i.e. Big Bend.) of their own merit. But anyone with the intent of visiting the Parks will undoubtedly garner the lower 48 along the way, but the opposite can't be said. I'm proof of that, having rode in each of the lower 48 4 or 5 times. I'm off to a good start, but still have a ways to go, I won't let the premise interfere with what I love most, just riding, seeing things, and meeting people. For me it has always been about the ride, not the destination, and I don't see that ever changing. It will be a fun project, and something everyone can follow along with, hope you enjoy the pictures.
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