Rode about 350 km (215 mi) all highway to escort a friend to the border. He is on his way from Southern Ontario, Canada to Santa Ana, Costa Rica on his wifes BMW F650GS. He figures it will take about 6 weeks and well over 7,000 km (4,350 mi) as he is visiting many people along the way. He may even zig-zag across the US. The ride plan is simply to get far enough south to avoid cold weather, and take it as it comes. He plans to fly back in the spring and ride his BMW F800GS down.
It was a blustery fall day, bright sunshine, a high of 12C (54F), with winds gusting in excess of 40 kph (25 mph). The ride down wasn't bad despite the cool morning temp and cross-wind. We were both bundled up against the cold. Well enough that he didn't even feel the need to plug in his heated vest, and I wasn't wanting either. After parting company at the Rainbow bridge, my ride back home was challenging. The wind had shifted and was now a head-wind. At times I couldn't maintain speed, even at full throttle, the wind was gusting that strong. Downshifting was the only option, and that allowed me to keep pace with the transport trucks in the right lane, so I wasn't a road hazard. It was unnerving the first few times though. Never the less, it was a good ride. I even saw a couple other bikes on the road.