How do I count thee, Oh 1500?

Let's do a little math. 1500 miles divided by 24 hours equals 62.5 miles per hour. Now that's not an unreasonable speed, and maybe once you could average that if you got a good night's sleep beforehand, and arranged to end the 24 hours before it got dark. Pretty hard to do, and utterly out of the question if you want to do more than one in a row. So let's give ourselves a little sleep, shall we? 1500 divided by a long day in the saddle, 18 hours, gives 83.3 mph.  Average. Not counting gas and potty breaks. You want to pick your highways pretty carefully, lest you receive any performance awards and their attendant delays. What if we compromise and do a really long day, say 20 hours on the road? The average is a bit more reasonable 75 mph. You should be able to get away with that on a lot of open interstates and some back roads west of the Mississippi. Well, we're in good old Delaware out here; not too many empty roads. That leads me to the Three Principles of the Long Ride.

Permission, Preparation, and Production.

Let's talk about permission. You will not complete this ride without some kind of support group. Unless you're leaving your wife for good, I suggest that you need her support. Moral support, and maybe logistical. Presumably she's your most loyal fan, and more willing to help out than others would be, especially if it calls for weird hours. My motorcycle was a birthday gift from my dear sweet wife, so I have a pretty good start on the permission angle. One has to take into account her needs, too, though. Get yourself some really good insurance for the trip, but don't make too big a deal about it. This is to help her over the hump if you mangle yourself, not a way to persuade her to let you do it. Have a serious talk, and find out her actual worries. Your wife is the best person in the world for knowing your weaknesses, and if she has any worries, those are your most important preparation tasks. Maybe she's worried about you being eaten by rattlesnakes in the Iron Butt Motel. Arrange to crash (metaphorically) with someone in the club. Promise to observe your body's tiredness signals, and describe them to her, so she'll know you're not bluffing. Show her the route. Promise to call. Do some practice trips; get her used to the idea. Whatever she needs. They will turn out to be things you also need. Do them, and you, the ride, and she will all be happier. I'll get into some of these things in more detail later, because they fall into the preparation category. Just know that a ride is more likely to succeed with a cheering squad at home.

It's raining right now, and I have some prep to do for a ride coming up this weekend. More later.