Rocky Mountain High

On Thursday October 7th, I woke from my restless night's sleep at the Butte Motel in Wray, CO. I was happy to be up early. I got my things packed and was on the road before 8:30. I thought I had seen a McDonald's in town the night before and was going to stop there for breakfast. Well, that McD must've been a night-time mirage because when I went back to where I thought it was, it wasn't there. I decided that rather than try and find someplace else that I'd just go on and soldier ahead until I needed fuel again.

That brought me to Ft. Morgan, CO where I stopped at a 7-11 for coffee, a donut, morning phone calls and fuel. It was also about 100 miles of riding with the bent shifter peg. It seems pretty manageable so I'm going to leave well enough alone until I get back home. I'm afraid that if I try to pry it back where it should be that I'll break it off of the shifter linkage and then have no shifting peg.

When I went to leave Ft. Morgan I got a little turned around and ended up riding in circles for about 20 minutes before I sniffed out the right direction to go. Anyway, the morning's 200 miles seemed to fly by. Once I got about 20 miles away, I let the AT&T Navigator app on my phone guide me in the rest of the day to Uncle Dick's house. I even hopped on the Interstate for a short bit (Speed Limit is 75 MPH w00t!)

I arrived at my uncle's place at about 1:30 mountain time. He had lunch already laid out for me, which was great because that donut wasn't doing it anymore. I grabbed a quick bite to eat, got cleaned up, and situated and we were off to the mountains. It's amazing how close they are to his house. A quick drive through Boulder and we started our ascent. There were lot's of mountain bikers and motorcyclists on the way up the mountain. It REALLY twisty and I'll bet would be great fun on a bike.

We arrived at the Pawnee Pass Trail and went for a short hike by Long Lake. I thought that the elevation change affecting people was a bunch of BS and hadn't planned on it effecting me, but as we started walking the trail, I was definitely a little light headed and had to stop no fewer than four times to catch my breath. I really wanted to keep walking the trail, but I'm trying to use my head these days and didn't want Uncle Dick to have to carry me back to the car.

Once back at the car we started back down the mountain and drove through Gold Hill which recently gained national attention as it was ravaged by a forest fire. It was a sad to see all of the burned trees and I can only imagine what those who lost their homes are going through. It was also very interesting to see trees that were totally untouched by the fire.

Once we were the rest of the way down the mountain we were back in Boulder and took a stroll through the Pearl Street shopping district. There were lots of fantastic shops and restaurants. We ended up meeting Aunt Jan for dinner at a place called Rio Grande. They are famous for their margaritas which was right up my alley. We had chips and guacamole for and appetizer and I ate flautas de pollo for dinner with rice and beans.

With my belly sufficiently full we went back home where I promptly made my airline reservations for Saturday and went to bed by 9:00.

I would ride 500 miles

The Super 8 motel I stayed at on Tuesday night absolutely ruled. It was just what I needed after a hard day. The manager Pricilla was very nice and accomadating. She even allowed me to utilize the hot tub after it's "official" hours were over. I got up Wednesday morning, packed the bike and was on the road by 8:15. I got to thinking about camping during the first portion of the ride and quickly came to the conclusion that it probably wasn't going to happen. I decided that if I were to run across a post office, that I'd mail my camping gear home. Lo and behold, about 30 minutes later there was a post office located in the small town of Burlington Juncion, MO. I stopped in and after 20 minutes I had my sleeping bag, mat, and tent on their way back to Columbus. One of the reasons that I decided to do this was to that I could more easily remove the seat from the bike in order to check my oil. As I found out the day 2, if I wanted to remove the seat it was easily a 1/2 hour ordeal. Also, after a long day the last thing that I wanted to do was have to set up camp.

Back on the road, Missouri greeted me with a beautiful morning. Not a cloud in the sky and a brisk 42. degrees, it wouldn't be long before it was almost 80. The roads were twisty and rolling and made for great scenery. It was exactly what I had envisioned a bike trip to be.

Before long I was at the Missouri/Nebraska border. As soon as I crossed it I lost my cell phone signal. I would not regain it for 250 miles. My phone really feels like my lifeline. I made extensive use of it on day 2 for mapping and communication. To not have it available to me felt really isolating. I also didn't want Laela to worry about me because I'd been calling or texting her every time I stopped for gas. I was even looking for pay phones in small towns to be able to call her. Fortunately for me she wasn't concerned about the lack of communication. US-136 in Nebraska is really desolate and I easily went 1/2 hour at a time without seeing another vehicle. It was nice to have the road to myself. What wasn't nice were the sections (albeit short) that were actually gravel. Nothing like gravel and no phone signal to make you feel a little nervous.

Other than that, the day was unremarkable. After my final gas stop in McCook, NE I decided to start looking for lodging. The sun was going down and I had no fewer than three locals warn me about deer. It would be another 93 miles before I found lodging at the Butte Motel in Wray, Colorado. The dark ride was slow and I didn't go over 50MPH unless I was fortunate enough to be behind another vehicle. Obviously I had my brights on and was HYPER alert for any fauna that might be lurking on the roadside.

I finally got my room, pulled up to my parking spot (they're numbered for each room). I hopped off my bike, but oops. I was so happy to be getting to a room that I forgot to engage the kickstand. I dropped the bike onto it's left side. I quickly removed the luggage and got it stood back up. After schlepping my gear into the room, I went back to the bike to head up to 7-11 to grab something to eat. It was then that I notice that my shifter peg is now bent all to hell. It's still rideable but the peg is noticabley "limp."

All in all, Wednesday was fantastic and I cleared 501 miles. I just woke up on this fine Thursday morning and am about to get back at it. I better upload this before someone figures out that I'm poaching their wireless (I hope it's not a honeypot).

Day 2

The Best Western in Rantoul, IL was adequate boarding for the night; however, my mind was racing a mile a minute and I only ended up sleeping for about four hours (total sleep time, not consecutive hours). I ended up getting out of bed at about 6:00 and after getting dressed went over to the "Red Wheel" Pancake and Steak house across the street. I had the 2x2x2 at 2 eggs (over easy), 2 pieces of french toast, and 2 sausage links. I had a feeling it'd be a busy day so I wanted to eat a hearty first meal. I finished quickly but for some reason I didn't get on the road until 9:15. I guess I just took my sweet ass time.

It started off easily enough. A brisk, beautiful, bright sunny morning. The perfect day to go riding. About 60 miles in something went wrong. I'm not sure what it is/was, but the bike started vibrating more than usual. Wheezy ordinarily vibrates quite a bit at idle, but once under load smooths out quite nicely. I was humming along at about 65mph, the pavement changed and then things started shaking. The engine didn't sound any different and was just as responsive, it just shook quite a bit. Lots of people complain about HD engines vibrating their fillings out and dropping parts all over the place, but this is the first time I had ever experienced something like that. I decided to pull over in Havana, IL just to be on the safe side, check the oil, and make sure that there wasn't something visibly wrong. This is the part where I tell you that I REALLY miss the oil level site glass that all of my Japanese bikes have. To check Wheezy's oil you have to look at the dipstick. Easy enough, right? Not so much when the oil tank is located under the seat and the seat has 50lbs of gear strapped down on top of it. The long and the short of it is that the oil level was fine, but it took a while to unload, then check, then reload the gear. The gear needed to be reseated anyway because it had shifted during the short distance traveled. Anyway, after an hour and a half of messing with things I was back on the road. The bike was still vibrating but it was just an issue of comfort, not an issue of performance to I decided to soldier on.

I started to suspect that maybe a wheel weight fell of throwing the wheels out of balance. To test this theory I got the bike up to a reasonable speed, pulled in the clutch, and killed the engine. If the problem was with the wheels, it would still present itself if the engine was shut off. Shutting off the engine stopped the vibration, so I ruled out the wheels as culprits. So, I don't know what is causing it but it's something I'm going to live with. Actually after my last gas stop tonight, it didn't seem so bad but I think I'm just getting used to it.

Needles to say losing another hour and a half at the beginning of the day was going to ruin my mileage goal for the day. This revelation bummed me out for a while because I was dwelling on it, but then I thought to myself "Self, this trip is about the ride not the destination. So roll with it."

Being focused on my setback made me miss a couple of great photo opportunities. There is a river to cross going between Illinois and Iowa's "udder." On the river is a dam for power generation and the gates were open. It was a spectacular site but I missed out on the photo opp being preoccupied by losing time. I also missed photographing the Iowa state line sign. In my defense, it is on the bridge and there are only 2 lanes so it's not like you can pull over and snap a pic. I think I was only in Iowa for 10 miles or so.

So today's mileage total was 339.2. Not bad all things considered. That's straight from Rantoul, IL to Bethany, MO. I guess I'll have to tackle Nebraska tomorrow.

Invigorating

Monday started out normally. I woke up, made some coffee, got Miranda and Laela out the door for school and then things were a little different.

I started by laminating a few maps and then finished up packing "Wheezy." My good friend Fred Gablick came by on his BMW R1150 and we got things together and got on the road at 11:00am. It was about three hours after I wanted to start but given the things that I needed to get accomplished, it all worked out for the best.

It was cloudy and overcast when we started, but that was a good omen because it allowed me to wear my glasses for the majority of the day rather than having to wear my sunglasses. It was a little chilly, but my gear kept me plenty warm. We hopped on 161 and headed west. We spent the next couple of hours winding through Ohio and eventually made our way into Indiana and made our first fuel stop at 110 miles. Wheezy isn't a big fan of going much over 100 miles before he needs to dip into his reserve. Fuel stops are also a great chance for a cup of coffee and to stretch your legs for a bit. We got moving again and made our way towards Indianapolis. Our route was to take us up over the Indianapolis outer belt but I missed our turn and we ended up going towards downtown. It took me about 15 minutes to realize that we were going the wrong way and by the time I figured it out it was getting to be about 4:00. Fred had to join a conference call for work at 4:00 so after another quick fuel stop, we parted ways.

I headed back the way I came and corrected my mistake. All told it was about a 35 mile detour. It also briefly had me on the Interstate and made me REALLY glad that I chose non-interstates to travel on. It's so much more peaceful on the "Blue Highways." Western Indiana and eastern Illinois are paved with beautiful rolling highways and were often lined with trees. That was especially nice in the late afternoon as the sun started to set. I only had to wear my sunglasses for about an hour today. I made it across the Indiana/Illinois border and decided that it was time to look for a hotel. The problem with taking "the roads less traveled" is that it is longer between areas that are populated enough to need hotels. I had to ride about an hour after dark fell which I didn't want to do, but my late start today kind of necessitated it. I finally rode in to a Best Western in Rantoul, IL and parked for the night. I unloaded all of my gear, rode over to the gas station on the corner and prepped for tomorrow.

The bike held up great and was really comfortable. Special thanks to Fred for all of the gear that he loaned me for the trip and for coming with me as far as Indianapolis. Also thanks to Nick Garcia at Iron Pony for reminding me about some items that I hadn't thought of checking before I left (most importantly my tires).

I titled this entry as "Invigorating" because that's exactly how I feel. My energy level jumped as soon as I set off and hasn't let up yet. I'm actually too wound up to sleep right now; hence, my late blogging. I'm looking forward to putting more miles behind me tomorrow and can only hope that it goes as well as today did.

Link to the photo album on Facebook: http://bit.ly/9ngPAV

Journey

October 3, 2010 - I should be setting off on the journey of a lifetime tomorrow. I'm taking my motorcycle for a solo two week trip around the central United States. It's been a couple of weeks of preparation, but I think that I'm ready. I've had a bunch of people lend me gear and mechanically, I've gone over my bike and I believe everything is in order. I just got finished with an outer belt tour of Columbus an hour ago in the rain and dark with all of my gear packed on to make sure things are ready to go. I'm glad I did it because it showed me some weaknesses in my waterproofing.

My first destination is to visit my uncle in Lafayette, CO. It's about 1200 miles from my house. My plan is to ride 400 miles a day, so I'm hoping to make it on Wednesday but that's not set in stone. That's the beauty of the trip, I can do what I want when I want to.

A friend of mine said to me last week that a motorcycle trip isn't about how much you bring with you, but about how much you leave behind. I have really taken that to heart and it has really become my mantra.

I'm really looking forward to having some time to myself to reflect and just not have a plan.

Here's a couple of links to checklists at the American Motorcycle Association's website that I used to help me prepare:

http://www.amadirectlink.com/roadride/riderresc/TouringList.asp

http://www.amadirectlink.com/roadride/Riderresc/33secrets.asp

See you on the open road. Ride on.