new to gz nnot bikes

[Water Warrior 2]

Oh good you haven't abandoned us. Wow, freeway riding is a scary propostion on a GZ. Your learning curve must have taken an abrupt turn upwards when you hit the freeway. Glad to hear you survived. Slower secondary highways are where the GZ shows it's worth. It can run along all day and wear you out while it still wants to continue.
You will have to realize the GZ and other smaller bikes are the primarily built for 3rd world countries where roads and speeds are slower. They are tough to kill but high speeds will do it quite nicely. Stick to highways with a limit of 60 MPH and get to know what the bike is capable of doing. Headwinds will take their toll on speed as well as a a long gradual hill. You do have to plan ahead while on the road. On a bigger bike just a twist of the wrist is sufficient when a hill comes up or the wind blows. Ride Safe.