Austin,
My next one will most likely be a souped up Road King as the leather bags aren't good for travel really. I will miss the chrome oil tank, etc. but there were a lot of times I couldn't go into bars, etc. as my stuff just wasn't secure.
The bars in Alaska are open at 4 in the AM - it's wild. I think they close from like 5 AM to 7 AM then open back up.
There wasn't a stronger shock for the back end when I took my long trips and it was painful. I hope HD has changed that oversight.
I'll tell you -- without that Corbin seat I could never have done even 2k miles. The stock seat sucked.
That heel shifter saved my a^&. You know how when you pull hard out of a parking lot and hit gravel your instinct is to put your foot down?
Well --ooops -- I did that in the Grand Canyon and it pulled my foot under my fully loaded 1200 pound bike. Without a heel shifter I'd have been stuck in Arizona for the winter as it was chasing me down from Colorado.
I didn't buy a bike til '02. Before that I was into old British cars. I restored 2 Austin Healey 3000 MK11 BJ8 series 2's. I have no idea what kids restore now as the cars I drove in high school are all too expensive for me to own today.
250k is very impressive. Most guys buy them and put 4k miles on them then just look at 'em for years.
I also think 9k miles on an old shovel head (is there any other kind?) is harder then 25k on my very comfy bike with heated clothes, cup holder, cig lighter, iPod, etc.