"The lonliest road"

This is Hwy 50, on the way to Ely, Nev. I did not know before I started this road trip, that there would be many such roads in the several states I traveled through. I put new tires on the V-Rod before I started, and although I never had tire trouble, I did wear a substantial flat spot across the center of the tire before I got back home. I live in the old '49er gold rush area of the Sierra Nevada's, where the roads are twisty. I'm more used to getting wear over a broader area of the tire. In Nevada, you can cruise sometimes for many miles without seeing another vehicle. This is a good place to carry extra gas, and a few candy bars, and a couple bottles of water. If you have trouble out here, cell phone service is spotty. Gas is non-existent. So is water. The buzzards are ever vigilant.

Day 17-18 Going home

If you knew how slowly I type, you would know what a labor of love it has been to post all this stuff. I guess some additional comments about the trip itself would be in order. By now, I was a little bit homesick, and didn't take many more pictures. A couple of truckers I met in Elko, Nv. recommended a brothel called the "Disco & Diddle". I'm kind of sorry I didn't drive by and get a picture of that. I met a lot of interesting people on this trip. I got to fulfill a dream at an age where a lot of guys would be retired to a couch in front of the TV. "If you survive it, it becomes an adventure." I did, and it was.
There were some additional things I could have done in the planning stage to make this trip more comfortable. I found out, too late, that windshield height is a critical factor for riding in the rain and the wind as well, at freeway speeds. My windshield needed to be two to three inches higher to prevent the buffeting, and the rain blowing in around and under my helmet. A snug fitting, waterproof cover for my seat would have been a great help. So would a water seal on my boots and gloves. The 15 pounds of stuff I sent home from Kansas was not missed, so I over packed.
All things considered, I had a wonderful time. Someone ask me if I would do it again. My answer was an emphatic YES. But not on the V-Rod.
One last thing - If you have to yawn while riding along, it's a good idea to close the faceshield ALL the way.

Day 16 Sept. 18, 2008 Tuesday

Bikers dream about days like this! Perfect weather. Twisty roads. Very light traffic. Lots of wildlife. This was easily the best day of the trip. The pictures tell the story. I even saw a mountain lion, but too quickly to get a picture. Most of the pictures are from Custer State Park, on the wildlife loop. The picture of the GPS shows how twisty Hwy 16A is. That was fun.

Day 14 Sept. 16, 2008 Tuesday

This trip originally had three destinations: the V-Rod homecoming rally in Kansas City, Mo; the newly opened Harley museum in Milwaukee, Wi; and a ride thru the Black Hills, S.D. with attendance at the nighttime lighting ceremony at Mount Rushmore. The bad weather forced me to skip the new Harley museum, but Keystone, S.D. is only a days ride from North Platte. Keystone is only four miles from Mount Rushmore, and right in the heart of the Black Hills. My wife and I drove thru the whole area about this same time of year three years ago. Harley riders are quite familiar with this area because Sturgis is at the North end of the Black Hills. A pilgrimage to Sturgis during the second week in August has attracted up to 600,000 bikers. It is a tradition that started some 68 years ago. Now, that many bikers, most of them on Harleys, tend to be a noisy bunch. The party goes on 24/7, so sleep is often not an option. Those of us that require 8 hours of sleep every night tend to sneak into Sturgis after all the vendors go home when the party is over. So I arrived in time to get moteled, and go to the lighting ceremony at Mount Rushmore. The ceremony is one of the finest tributes to democracy I have ever had the privilege to attend.

Day 13 Sept. 15, 2008 Monday

I have made it back to the sunshine, and stopped in North Platte, Ne. I got out of the rain somewhere around Lincoln, Nebraska, and pretty much dried out during the ride for the rest on the day. I came up Hwy 29 from Mound City, across Hwy 2 into Nebraska, and picked up Interstate 80 at Lincoln. Interstates are only good for one purpose - going fast, 75mph in most places, and 80mph if you want to keep up with traffic. Apparently, this applys to everything: triple tractor-trailer rigs, motorhomes pulling cars or boats, and any other motorized transportation capable of going that fast. It is a little disconcerting to be hummin' along at 75, in the "slow" lane, and see a big Peterbuilt swerve out to pass, so I had to kick it up a notch. Or two. At a gas stop, I dug out the map and saw that Hwy 30 runs parallel to Hwy 80 all the way to North Platte, so I crossed over to the slow side. For the next 200 miles, I am on the other side of the railroad track, poking along at 55, in sunshine, and enjoying the ride for the first time in several days. The fun is back. Am I just a fair weather rider? Yur durn tootin'. Kerney, Ne. has a big Cabelas store on Hwy 30. It was a good place to get waterproof boot spray. I shoulda done that before I left. In this flat part of Nebraska, the trains are very long. They hall mostly coal; most trains had 30 to 60 carloads of it. I was told most of it comes out of Utah and Wyoming. When I was a kid, we burned coal to heat the house, anthracite and bituminous, hard coal and soft coal. The hard coal often contained fossil impressions of ferns. The coal miners used to go on strike in the middle of Winter, and coal prices jumped drastically. Dad got tired of this, and we switched over to an oil burning stove. I no longer had to clean out the clinkers. For those of you who don't know what a clinker is - it don't matter.

Day 12 Sept. 14, 2008 Sunday

I spent most of yesterday drying out everything, as you can see from the pictures. I rubbed motor oil into the boots to help waterproof them after I got them dried out. I hung the helmet from the curtain rod with a bungee cord. I ask to park the bike under the eaves, on the sidewalk, just outside my window. The wind blew the rain in anyway, so it still got pretty wet. The foam under the seat absorbs water like a sponge, so I need to get a waterproof cover for it. It does not dry out easily once it gets wet, so you get a wet butt everytime you sit on it until it drys out.
The rain has let up this morning to a heavy drizzle, and the weather channel indicates clear skys for the Western half of Nebraska. I am still in Mound City, Mo. where we are under flood and tornado watch. The aftermath of hurricane Ike is headed this way, so I'm gonna make a break for it and head West. I took the plastic liners from both trash cans to put over my socks, in case the boots get soaked again. There is nothing much I can do with the helmet. I really regret not being able to ride on to Milwaukee to see the new Harley museum. Several people I talked to that have seen it said that they did a wonderful job, and that it was not to be missed if I had the chance.

Day 11 Sept.13, 2008 Saturday

This was somewhere between damned uncomfortable and torturous. And dangerous. I made it just about 90 miles, just one tank of gas, in heavy, unrelenting rain. The new rain gear works fairly well, but the boots are soaked thru, and the helmet leaks. I had to crack it open to keep it from fogging up. I had to slow down to 60 on the interstate, and the big trucks were spraying me every time one went by. The first gas stop was a truck stop with a motel. I got a room. Stripped down and fired up the wall heater to try to dry out the boots and helmet. If the rain doesn't let up, I will be stuck here until it does. I can't continue on.