8/11/08
As we wrap up this adventure, which is just shy of 9000 miles in 5 weeks, I want to recognize those who made it possible and to note some observations. First, I want to thank our spouses, Jackie, Gail, and Mary, whose support made this trip a success (even though they benefited too!). Obviously, one cannot just walk away from a business without great people to run it, so in that respect I want to thank Erin, Troy, Ryan and Laura for managing our rental businesses, and also my crew at Roberts Automotive, Ken, Christine, Kevin, Jim, and Dustin for their dedication to excellence and ability to carry on without me. Also, our thanks go out to Doug Saldivar, who was on the scene right after I launched off the bike at the gas station, and to Fred Mcdowell for yanking us off the freeway, getting us to the dealership, and entertaining us for the day. Personally, I want to thank Gene and Harold for their encouragement when I thought my trip was over.
If you are planning a trip like this someday, you may benefit from our experiences. The following is offered in no particular order of importance:
1.Be flexible and plan loosely. We had some general ideas about what we wanted to see and do, but did a lot of ad libing. For instance we found out about the ghost town, Bannack, from Fred.
2.Stay off the super slab as much as possible and engage the locals. People are more than willing to help and will steer you to some interesting sites, museums, etc.
3.Take a tent, but let the cooking stuff at home unless you like making campground grub. Remember, cooking and cleaning up take time. We stayed at KOA Kamping Kabins whenever possible, but mixed in some motels and tenting. If you don't know exact dates about when you will be doing something, you won't find lodging around places like Yellowstone, except for camp sites.
4.Forget individual maps. Take a road atlas and don't put all your faith in a GPS. Take a KOA campground directory.
5.Buy a 12 volt battery charger for AA batteries, and a good stock of batteries. This proved invaluable for power hungry devices like communications systems and cameras.The bike charges the batteries while you are touring around.
6.If you don't yet have a bike, consider one that will allow you to stand while riding. Your posterior will thank you profusely when you hit those torn up roads and it is a luxury to stretch your legs while riding. Besides, its fun to startle somebody in the car next to you when you stand up at 65 mph.
7.It is okay to split up, but ride with a wing man. If you don't, at least file a flight plan with the rest of your com padres and stick to it.
8.Adversity will find you in the form of wind, rain, heat, mechanical breakdowns, physical breakdowns, and ways you could never predict. Expect it and bring along a sense of humor and flexibility.
9.The bike with the least range will have determine how many breaks you get.
10.Have a communication system besides yelling and wild gesturing. We used FRS radios with headsets in the helmets. Just don't expect to be able to understand anything at 80 mph.
11.Designate someone as historian. Take lots of pictures and keep a record of your daily activities.
12.Technology may be better than ever, but don't expect to be able to communicate with the internet everywhere or get a phone connection anywhere. Campgrounds are lousy places to get a reliable connection (they seem to shut down after the office closes) and if you are tenting there is no electricity to charge the laptop. Also, you will be surprised at how little time you have to blog.
13.Get a good full coverage helmet and wear it. I like the full face variety with D ring closures, but that is just my perference. I wore them all the time when racing cars. Gene likes his flip up helmet with snap closure. Not only do they offer the best protection, they will keep your skin from looking like an alligator after thousands of miles of hard riding.
14.Finally, don't ask a homeless person for a good place to eat.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Sunday, August 10, 2008
8/9/08
Awakening to dreary and rainy skies, we had a typical breakfast for a Super 8, packed up and left. The temperature was cool, so we kept the vents shut and were fortunate that the skies stayed cloudy for much of the trip. In the afternoon the sun came out and got things heated up reducing the patience factor so we called it a day around 4. Traffic around St Paul, MN was pretty heavy and the numskull factor relative to cage drivers has increased as we go east. Other than St Paul it was a pretty uneventful 530 miles of super slab.
8/10/08
Today we awoke to cloudless skies with temps in the 60s, and indeed it stayed that way the rest of the day. This kind of weather makes it easy to pile up a lot of miles, but our progress was impeded by numerous road construction projects. We did manage another 540 miles finally quitting at Kendallville, IN making this our last night on the road. We found a Best Western offering complimentary cookies, always a draw for Stinger. Having enough of the super slab's construction projects and various tolls, we broke off there and onto US 6 just after the border of Illinois and Indiana. Unlike the West where roads are just torn up and you can drive on them anyway, the roads around here are shut down and you are detoured. US 6 had a couple of these, but at a gas stop some locals told us how to get around the last one. That's how we ended up in Kendallville. Tomorrow may be our longest day yet as we have to get through Ohio and Pennsylvania, but we are looking forward to family and some good home cooking. We heard from reliable sources that Uncle Eddie made it home by Saturday morning after riding all night. That means we should be pulling into home by the time he wakes up. Tune in tomorrow for some more final thoughts and observations.
Awakening to dreary and rainy skies, we had a typical breakfast for a Super 8, packed up and left. The temperature was cool, so we kept the vents shut and were fortunate that the skies stayed cloudy for much of the trip. In the afternoon the sun came out and got things heated up reducing the patience factor so we called it a day around 4. Traffic around St Paul, MN was pretty heavy and the numskull factor relative to cage drivers has increased as we go east. Other than St Paul it was a pretty uneventful 530 miles of super slab.
8/10/08
Today we awoke to cloudless skies with temps in the 60s, and indeed it stayed that way the rest of the day. This kind of weather makes it easy to pile up a lot of miles, but our progress was impeded by numerous road construction projects. We did manage another 540 miles finally quitting at Kendallville, IN making this our last night on the road. We found a Best Western offering complimentary cookies, always a draw for Stinger. Having enough of the super slab's construction projects and various tolls, we broke off there and onto US 6 just after the border of Illinois and Indiana. Unlike the West where roads are just torn up and you can drive on them anyway, the roads around here are shut down and you are detoured. US 6 had a couple of these, but at a gas stop some locals told us how to get around the last one. That's how we ended up in Kendallville. Tomorrow may be our longest day yet as we have to get through Ohio and Pennsylvania, but we are looking forward to family and some good home cooking. We heard from reliable sources that Uncle Eddie made it home by Saturday morning after riding all night. That means we should be pulling into home by the time he wakes up. Tune in tomorrow for some more final thoughts and observations.
Friday, August 8, 2008
8/8/08
Today we got up early and hopped on the interstate and headed to our objective, Bismarck, SD. Interstates are pretty uneventful, and in the case of Montana, traffic free. In a hundred miles we saw only about 10 cars on our side of the road. Once we got into North Dakota, traffic picked up and so did the heat, but not as bad as yesterday. Mercifully, there was a lot of cloud cover today and we even hit a little rain outside of Bismarck. After entering North Dakota, we decided to stop at the Theodore Roosevelt National Park Visitor Center, which was right off I94. This was part of the Badlands that extends to South Dakota. The terrain is characterized by dry grasses and bluffs. Lightning ignites lignite that burns underground and the intense heat turns the dirt to red clinkers. During a rainstorm three to four inches of dirt along the bluffs will be eroded. Eventually the land will look like eastern Montana with rolling hills rather than the severe, but striking, appearance of the Badlands. While walking around the grounds we saw a woman who was glassing for buffalo. Bear asked if she had seen any, but the reply was negative. However, it turns out that she is from the same town, Jerome, as Jackie and her dad was a barber who cut Jackie's dad's hair. She now lives in North Carolina. It is amazing how connected all of us are. Once we got to Bismarck we found a Super 8 and then went out to a Chinese buffet. Great meal. We'll be up early again tomorrow to pile up some more miles. One thing that is interesting about the plains is that the wind can blow in any direction within a couple of miles, and there seems to no correlation to geographical features. As we rode along, we would encounter strong winds coming from the left, which would last a few miles. Then the buffeting would stop, and in another few miles the wind would be strong from the right. However, the most challenging winds we have encountered so far were on the Mackinac Bridge.
Today we got up early and hopped on the interstate and headed to our objective, Bismarck, SD. Interstates are pretty uneventful, and in the case of Montana, traffic free. In a hundred miles we saw only about 10 cars on our side of the road. Once we got into North Dakota, traffic picked up and so did the heat, but not as bad as yesterday. Mercifully, there was a lot of cloud cover today and we even hit a little rain outside of Bismarck. After entering North Dakota, we decided to stop at the Theodore Roosevelt National Park Visitor Center, which was right off I94. This was part of the Badlands that extends to South Dakota. The terrain is characterized by dry grasses and bluffs. Lightning ignites lignite that burns underground and the intense heat turns the dirt to red clinkers. During a rainstorm three to four inches of dirt along the bluffs will be eroded. Eventually the land will look like eastern Montana with rolling hills rather than the severe, but striking, appearance of the Badlands. While walking around the grounds we saw a woman who was glassing for buffalo. Bear asked if she had seen any, but the reply was negative. However, it turns out that she is from the same town, Jerome, as Jackie and her dad was a barber who cut Jackie's dad's hair. She now lives in North Carolina. It is amazing how connected all of us are. Once we got to Bismarck we found a Super 8 and then went out to a Chinese buffet. Great meal. We'll be up early again tomorrow to pile up some more miles. One thing that is interesting about the plains is that the wind can blow in any direction within a couple of miles, and there seems to no correlation to geographical features. As we rode along, we would encounter strong winds coming from the left, which would last a few miles. Then the buffeting would stop, and in another few miles the wind would be strong from the right. However, the most challenging winds we have encountered so far were on the Mackinac Bridge.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
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