roadtrip 2008
OK, just writing this super-fast to say that I have survived another day I plan to make it home a day early so will write more info then.
Today saw something like 750 miles pass underneath me, I am all business now, no stopping and thinking, no smelling the roses, just jamming out the mileage.
Brian
Today was a nice day of hard grind, long miles in high temperatures. The addition of Auntie NoNo, to the trip amounts to what I guess is about a 300 mile diversion; of course most of it is off the highway, so they are a slow couple of miles. That said I am really happy I got down to see her, if not for running parallel to a cop and a lot of roadworks today I would have gotten in much earlier, but I got here none the less.
Auntie NoNo is in fine form, and I got to meet her puppies which are named after Jane Austin characters, but that apparently does not make her weird
As I am just 1200 miles or so from home now and today I did a bit over 800 miles I am wondering if I should go with the plan of a three easy days of 400 miles a piece, or if I think I can notch it up and do two 600+mile days. 1500 miles in two days is enough to qualify for the Iron Butt Bun Burner award, so that would lead to me to believe it is not easy
Anyway, to some quick ramblings from today, carrying on from yesterdays comments about billboards, today I did not see too many, but I did note the number of anti-abortion non-commercial billboards once I got into Kansas, they continue until I got here. Also I noted around Tulsa a big US Army recruiting poster, it had a guy in full uniform with the tagline “are you tough enough”, quite a bit from the invoking of pride to become a Marine.
I have also come to think that you can judge a lot about a state based on its rest areas, Iowa had full time staff keeping them clean, as well as free WiFi. Kansas on the other hand many toilets with no stall doors, and those that had them were without locks. Please draw your own conclusions.
As I have come back East I also have noted the reduction in large freight trains, I measued some of the trains I saw in the past few days, on average they were about 1.1 Miles long and were jammed with coal.
I really did seem to be all business today, I had planned on hitting the Atomic Canon, but when the time came, I elected to keep rolling.
In general I found Colorado to be a truly beautiful state, imagine my surprise when today it turned ugly, I was wondering how all was so brown and five minutes later I saw the “Welcome to Kansas sign” I guess it is not easy being a state in the Midwest.
Despite hitting snooze a good few tiemes this morning as when my alarm went off I knew I could not pull off the 13 hours of riding today, so I am off to get some sleep; this will help make me strong tomorrow as well as help me recover from last night.
Brian
Since I started loading up the Bapper for the final big push across the country, I have felt less and less as if I am on vacation, it is time to go home. Arlington has felt more like home each year I have lived there, and I suspect this next 12 months will really cement that in my mind.
I did make it to the very wonderful Casa Bonita today, it was all that SouthPark talked it up to be, I can see why Cartman tried to convince Butters that the world had come to an end, so he could go there.
All had told me the food there is really bad and to instead just get a drink, the management there have a strong way to work around this, rather then address the quality of the food, they just set a rule that you have to order a meal before you get into the dining room were all the action is.
I also had the chance to check out the Coors brewery (from the street) as well as the final resting place of Alfred Packer, a key for all Cannibal and musical fans. Finally I got some nice riding time in the mountains, unfortunately as it was dark and stormy I did not get as nice a view of the Rockies as I had hoped for, but there was some wonderful riding.
On the bike front my little tire pressure monitoring devices (firefly’s) had started chirping around the time I got to Denver, when I checked the pressure both tires were in the 20’s instead of 38 and 42, so that is sorted now. I also took this as a warning and purchased a real flat repair kit, in addition to a pump that will run off the bike accessory socket. Hopefully that is a waste of $150 and I never have to look at a tire again.
It is sad saying goodbye to my wonderful hosts Justin and Emily, after being here for three days it still seems too soon to go. But the road is calling my name, and I have to eat up 800 miles tomorrow, so I will finish loading up, put my laundry in the drier and try and get some sleep prior to tomorrows 4am start..
My time in Denver has easily 10x my booze intake for this trip, not to mention 10x my bad food intake, so from that standpoint it will be nice to get back on the road.
Riding today gave me a chance to do some thinking, looking at the billboards I think you can really tell what advertisers think of people in different parts of this huge and diverse country. In Michigan I saw signs of impeccably dressed marines with swords calling on pride to join the few, the proud. In Gillette Wyoming I saw a billboard of a woman with a blackened eye, and lots of writing in English saying that being abused by yours spouse is not acceptable. Oddly however the board also had written on it in Spanish, “We speak Spanish”. Without the context of the rest of the board, I wonder how a non English speaker would interpret the image and the fact that they speak Spanish.
Anyway, I am tired, and am hoping for at least one REM cycle before tomorrow.
Be safe
Brian
Again I awake in Denver with a sore noggin, and an over stuffed stomach. Justin and I went to see Gonzo in the local Landmark theatre and it really was enjoyable. It even seemed like a slightly healthy option as Emily was kind enough to drive us there, and we were going to walk the mile or so home.
I was already a bit rough, as to re-hydrate post massage I popped into Dougherty’s bar for a refreshing cider, alas they only had it in a bottle and I learned that at happy hour you buy one beer, and they give you a second one. Ouch. Just when I was about to leave G-Nome dropped in with her friend, so I had to order one more beer, which of course was two.
The massage was super wonderful, the masseuse was a former professional pole vaulter, I needed some good deep tissue work and I suspect that had I given her a piece of coal she could have made it into a diamond. Really good work.
After Dougherty’s Harmon fired up the Big Green Egg and rocked out some steaks and onions.
We really enjoyed the HST movie, and when we popped in for a drink in the place across the street we met the first person in Denver who has approved of my idea to go to Casa Bonita. So its on, I am going to stop writing this nonsence, and go be a tourist. I really hope tomorrows entry is better then the past two days. Denver is a rough town
Oooo and our stupid drunken asses had McDonalds after we got home. Yeah us.
Brian
I really was tired when I got here last night, so I was all set for some sleep when Emily sent me a text message offering me some ass. Turned out it was Pizza and it was not to be had anyway, so some fine homemade quesadillas, and several bottles of wine later it was the wee hours and time to sleep.
This led to a pretty subdued Monday, Justin and I spent most of the day running errands picking up birthday stuff for Emily including us getting quite lost several times down county roads, and dirt roads trying to find the place for her main gift. The good thing about that is we got to see “The Bandit” which somehow reminds me of the “Little Mule” in the movie Romancing the Stone.
The gentleman we bought the burner from was quite chatty, so we got to meet he Geese, chickens, sheep dogs, parakeets and miscellaneous other interesting creatures on the farm. He also sent us to the Pepper Pod for lunch, which made much of the pain from the previous evening go away.
As we rolled through downtown Denver Justin pointed out many of the sites, and I failed to capture them with my camera
We had a really nice dinner for Emilys birthday, and after eating camp food for a week or so, it was quite a change. Back to the hours and I got my ass handed to me in wii tennis and a hardcore wii baseball game. I think I was 28-0 down at the end of the first inning, LOL. Some Tiger Woods wrapped out the evening.
As you can tell from this entry, I have not been on the machine, and really not thinking much. I have been faffing around with the blog adding plugins etc. that Adam suggested, and I suspect tomorrow will be just as idle so not much to report then either.
Right now I am planning to pull out Wednesday night / Thursday morning and make the 800 mile sprint to Aunt NoNo. So should see her Thursday evening.
Brian
Today was the end of the BMW MOA rally, but before leaving the area I wanted to swing by the Devils Tower as I missed it last time I went across 90. As you can clearly see this is the landing sight from Close Encounters, the piece of rock itself was pretty impressive, but the land around it was just breath taking.
From there I was trying to visit a bar Justin used to serve beer at in Laramie WY, the bar is called something like the Rump Ranger. Everyone was very friendly. Again I wanted to stay off the slab, and rolling along 287 as well as 34 again in WY was just stunning. It is impressive with all the weight on the machine, and my laundry acting as a sail how well she manages in the twisties. I was banked well over in a corner on 34 when I saw a funny looking long eared deer. I grabbed the brakes hard and they stopped me very well, however my reactions and those of the machine were in vein as the deer took off running before I even registered it.
After camping for a few days, not to mention partying late and being woken by the sun, today was the first time I started feeling tired again on the machine. Not to risk last times events I sucked down a redbull, water, sandwich and pulled out my nice silent plugs and went back to music. I suspect after a few nice nights in Denver I will have no such issues on the road to Auntie NoNo.
I am shattered tiered and my brain is not working, so no more for today. I will be relaxing in Denver with Justin and Emily for the next few days, so I will not be pulling serious miles.
I will however be looking at some of the treasures that Denver has to offer, maybe I can do a few buck-wheats hits and find some friends of Jimmy the Saint.
Night
Brian
The storm raged on for most of the evening, suffice to say each time I woke up with the need to use the facilities I was trying to stay under my tent as much as I could. The weather was a bit more then some tents, and some people could manage so of our little group of five tents one went to a motel based on all being wet, and one moved as we are close to a road. I figured I can sleep through most anything, including my own snoring, so some traffic didn’t scare me, and I opted for good ground over good location.
I spent a good chunk of time chatting with Tom again today, he is a fellow ST owner, that is my ugly duckling bike for those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, who welcomed me with some Scotch last night. He has been a bike guy for longer then I have been alive as well as a witch-doctor, I mean chiropractor as well as just general good people. I suspect he is one of the good chiropractors as he is no nonsense and seems to have a very good understanding of physiology.
I will try not to be too boring on the bike front, suffice to say there are a lot of cool bikes, and a lot of cool toys for bikes here. Some of the vintage machines are really nice, and I included the picture of a war era bike including a rather dangerous looking sidecar gun, as well as towing a canon. I ordered a set of custom earplugs, it’s pretty cool, they make a mould of the inside of your ear and 6-8 weeks later you get plugs that keep all road noise out, as well as keeping music in. So I can keep my music volume lower, and protect my hearing. I call that a two-fer Technically a three-fer I guess as when I popped back to get some regular plugs I can use on the road without music, he decided to give them to me for free
Having kept to my plan of not getting on the machine today, I am looking forward to riding down town tomorrow and getting something better to eat. I suspect I can do a lot better on the stove then the stuff on sale here.
Not much more to report, a very nice day with lots of friendly people. Tomorrow I am doing some volunteering for a couple of hours, so I suspect I will meet some more characters
The beer tent is calling, so I am off that direction.
Brian
Waking up this morning in Cheyenne, I had the chance to hang with the Dougherty’s again. Things turned a bit ugly when we found out that some friend of humanity had been through the car and taken Karin’s purse, luckily they discarded many of the things of value and she still has an expired driving license so she should be able to fly back home. Still not how you want your day to begin:(
We got to see some of the beauty of Wyoming; we went to a nice remote place for our lunch and then got to see a stone pyramid I didn’t quite understand and finally the huge Abe Lincoln head.
I could tell I was in Wyoming when at the Abe Head I say a sign in the urinal that said “Please do not spit gum or chew in the urinals it plugs them up”, I am not in DC anymore:)
From there it was a fast 250 miles or so cross country to the rally, taking Dan’s fathers advice I took hwy 287 to 30, 34 out of Laramie and the ride was just incredible. It started off with arrow straight roads which lead to the cliché photo I had to take, sprinting over that at speed then led into some beautiful mountains and fantastic twists and turns. Karma was even on my side as I had been rolling through a few of the corners around 110 and came upon a car, while waiting for a safe place to pass I went by a sheriff coming the other way, at which point we were doing a civilized 65.
I don’t think they care about speeding during daylight hours much in this state
Check in at the rally went very smoothly, my camping neighbors are all very friendly, I was making a mess of putting together my tent and they jumped in to help. Joined one for some scotch he had brought, and the night was started. As things were getting rolling a nasty storm blew in, it was rough enough that they shut down the rodeo a half mile down the street. We hung out speculating on the path of the storm, and finally when the rain got heavy we jumped into out tents. When the storm got rough, we hopped into our tents and once it was past, it was time to go get a beer.
As you would imagine there are some odd ducks at the rally, and all are friendly. No riding is the plan for tomorrow, just relax and allow my ass to go back to its own shape, not the shape of the saddle.
Brian
This mornings ride in Canada started off a bit grey again but I got a great nights sleep last night, and felt ready to face the world. When reentering the U.S. they wanted to know if I had any weapons on me, I could see them being so precise going into Canada but I thought the US liked that sort of thing. When entering Canada I was asked about four different ways if I had any weapons, weapons even for personal protection, knives, guns, pepper spray, mace etc. Both sides were concerned about booze and smokes, and the question of food came up just the once.
The sun had come out by the time I hit Manistique, Michigan and it was proving to be a wonderful day, I fired up the grill (a gift for Christmas) which worked very well, and I actually spent some time hanging out at a lake and relaxing just across from a “Big Boy”.
As I continued south I began to notice that a grain silo in the distance was a warning to hold your breath, I guess they must be used for animal feed now as the reek of manure follows very closely behind seeing one. The big surprise was one of the times in the middle of the smell beside a silo was a BMW Motorcycle dealership. Not quite the same feeling as Bobs or Morton’s.
I always suspected that fire trucks were made somewhere, but a little after seeing Lambeau field I rolled by the headquarters of Pierce Manufacturing. That in itself was pretty cool with all the firetrucks out front, but I chuckled to myself for some time given the sound fire tucks made that they are made just outside a place called Nee-Nah. … Ouch, sorry.
I also had the ABS make my life much easier today, I was rolling along and saw the field in the image above, I didn’t have much room to pull over and get the shot, so I yanked on the breaks and rolled over to the shoulder. What I learned was that more then half the shoulder was gravel, I noticed this when I was already committed and the ABS did a nice smooth job of wiping off the speed. Without ABS that would have been a lot uglier I suspect.
Today will be my last day of proper 2-3 lane roads, tomorrow morning I hit the super-slab which is great from a mileage consumption standpoint, but I will loose much of the character. I think it will be good as the usual pains are setting in , knees, right wrist etc. so a day of easy high speed cruising should be good.
Today was a short travel day totaling only about 407 miles. I suspect tomorrow will be another story.
Cheers
Brian
I was a little nervous starting off Sunday, I had gotten pretty soaked Satuday night, but the weather forecast called for a lovel morning. When I looked out the window however this is what I saw.
I went from there to the Falls, I did not see any evidence of Superman there, but Batman was all setup, they had his car and bike from the new Dark Knight movie, pretty cool. Allegedly they are the actual ones from the movie, the bar does look bad ass.
Ooo and did I mention some water was going off a cliff, very impressive.
From there into Canada, I stopped at an Esso, I thought they were just called that in Europe, and they had cadbury’s chocolate, what a wonderful place
The road to Sudbury was incredible, a lovely 2 – 3 lane road with beautiful forest, lakes etc. Sudbury itself was really ugly with the biggest chimney stacks I have seen. My friend rain returned, so after an hour in that, I was ready to rest when I got to Sault Ste Marie.
Sault Ste. Marie does seem to thave some of the gutsiest bugs I have ever seen, I could not see through my visor after about an hour of hitting these in the rain, it was just a mess.
