Toy run

Dec. 13, 2008 Well, the storm held off just long enough to attract 1281 motorcycles to this years' run, but it was quite cold. I got a kick out of one of the kids - he took a look at my vest and asked, "Are you a general?" I said, "No. Why?" He said, "If those were Army medals, you'd be a general"!

Snow storm

Dec. 15, 2008. We awoke to seven inches of snow this morning. There is more on the way. This much snow is fairly rare at 2430 feet in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Only twice before in ten years of retirement have we had this much at once. I grew up 60 miles west of Chicago, and when I retired, I never wanted to shovel snow again. Or be that cold. This is wet, heavy snow; the kind you get when the temperatures are just at, or slightly below freezing. We need the moisture. It has been warm and too dry so far this "Winter". We have power now, but it went out for a few seconds several times last night, and I had to reset most of the clocks. I have a small portable Honda generator; it will run the tv, a couple lights, and the fan on the propane fireplace. The dish antenna has to be free of snow to function, so I have to spray it with Pam, or hose it off, if the hose doesn't freeze solid. So far, it's not too cold.

The other cat, Shadow

We occasionally house-sit for friends in Kona, Hawaii. Take care of the dog and cat, fix stuff around the house, do a little yard work. Their cat, Bandit, is not a people cat, will swat you, or hiss if you try to pet him, altho he has mellowed some in recent years. When we came home in July 1999, we said we would never have a cat. Besides, I'm somewhat allergic. The next morning, this pathetic, starved, injured kitten crawled out from under our car. My wife said we had to take it to the pound. I said nobody would adopt it in such bad condition. Sooo, she went from a carpeted box on the front porch, to the vet to be neutered, to the garage, to confinement in the laundry room when it turned cooler. Now, Shadow sleeps on the foot of the bed, and I use Nasonex to keep my nose clear. I never knew anyone could get so attached to a cat. If my doctor said get rid of the cat, I'd have to get another doctor. She is ten years old now, and still a joy to have around. We keep her in at night because of all the critters-coyotes, bobcats, raccoons, and the occasional bear or mountain lion. Joey is fated to be an indoor cat; they live longer and stay cleaner. Joey has not figured out how to purr without drooling. He sings, loudly, for his dinner. To hear him, you would think he had not eaten for days.

BIG Joey! Gee, they don't stay kittens long.

He won't be seven months old for another week! We weighed him today at 9 lbs, 9 ozs. Anybody know how long cats keep growing? He's almost quadrupled in weight since we brought him home. His purr-manent appetite is amazing. When he is awake, he makes the Energizer Bunny look like a snail. More to come...

Introducing Joey, the wonder cat.

Joey, the wonder cat, earned that label due to the perpetual look of surprise on his face. He is of undetermined ancestry, rescued from the local pound as a three month old kitten. We figured (or perhaps more accurately, I figured) he would be good company for Shadow, our other cat. Shadow is a ten year old neutered female who arrived at our house in very bad shape, starved, one foot broken, full of ear mites, and a crooked head. More on Shadow later.

I am a firm believer that you do not pick a cat; they pick you. Joey climbed up the side of his cage and reach thru with one outstretched paw to snag my pants leg, his meow plainly saying "Please get me out of here, NOW." So we did.

Joey is almost three months old in this picture, and 2 lbs. 7 oz. The white "bib" made this picture come out pretty well. He has been in foster care since birth, so he is sociable, almost litter box trained, and eats huge amounts of food for such a little cat.

"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.

Day 10 Sept. 12, 2008 Friday

Well, today was going to be a bike show at Basswood. It is still raining hard. Tomorrow is a ride to Gails Harley for a BBQ, and a big raffle back at Basswood to conclude the rally. I am glued to the weather channel. This whole area is under flood watch. On top of that, the aftermath of hurricane Ike may come this way in a couple more days. I have a $10 senior ticket to go see the new Harley museum in Milwaukee on Tuesday, but I am sick of the rain. The storm streches all the way to Canada and East to the New England states. I am leaving for home this morning. I will check out, go to the post office to send part of my stuff home, so I don't have to pack it. It is raining hard. I'm done. There is sunshine West of here, if I can ride out of the rain. My wife says it is 90 degrees and sunny back home in California.

Day 9, Sept. 11, 2008 Thursday

Good tour of the Harley factory. Extensive use of robotics to do the welding, much like the automotive manufacturing. The lightweight rims for the new V-Rod Muscle are made in China. Sign of the times, I guess. It is hard to even find an American flag that's made in the USA. We had a good lunch, and got to talk to several of the V-Rod factory engineers. I had several questions that I finally got straight answers. This was impossible to do thru customer service. It doesn't look like there will ever be email access in the near future. This seems like a mistake to me, just my opinion. The flags were at half mast out of rememberance of September 11. We were susposed to have the rest of the day at the Kansas City race track - then the rains started, and race day was canceled.

Day 8, Sept. 10, Wednesday

Had a great breakfast at Basswood, met a few more members. Got registered for the rally. There are about 110 people signed up to attend. The weather is holding ok for the moment, but there is a forcast for rain and thunderstorms the next two days. The Harley factory tour is tomorrow. Harley is furnishing lunch.

Day 7, Sept. 9, 2008 Tuesday

Nice day. Rode out to the Harley plant. No cameras on the tour. Took a few pictures on the grounds, then went to the Smokehouse BBQ for some great ribs and hot wings. The hot wings were free with a coupon in the KC guide book at the motel. These alone would have been enough for a delicious meal; I took a box back to the motel, enough for tomorrow. Double yum.

Day 6, Sept. 8, Monday

I am at the first one here at the Best Western for the rally, which takes place the the Basswood Resort, about four miles down the road. I rode out there to check it out, and quite a few people from the 1130cc.com forum have already arrived - the campground is beginning to fill up. There are motorhomes, 5th wheels, campers, and cabins. The Harley factory is only a few miles from here. The rally starts with an introductory breakfast Wednesday, followed by registration. I've met a few forum members already.

Day five, Sept. 7, 2008

For me, Kansas had a few surprises. Large windmill generators. Oil wells, some of them actually pumping oil. The smell of grass blood, newly mown hay, and the pungent fragrance of cows, lots of cows. 50 miles West of Kansas City, the skies opened up, thunder & lightning, heavy rain, maybe a trace of hail mixed in. I got soaked. My waterproof coat - wasn't. My raingear was impossible to get on without removing my boots, but the jacket helped some. It took a while to find an exit to wait out the worst of it. I soldiered on to Platte City, Mo. The next day, I looked up the nearest Harley dealer, and bought better raingear. I am in Platte City two days early for the rally. I will fine some fine KC BBQ baby back ribs. The rain is susposed to let up. Hurricane Ike is on the way.

Day four, Sept. 6, 2008

I was headed for Wichita, Ks, but I had a little problem with the GPS, and ended up in Dodge City, Ks. The Gps quit tracking, and I missed a turn in Lamar, Co. I was some 50 miles South before I caught the error. Now, a guy, on a motorcycle, is never lost. We just explore alternative destinations. H.O.G. (Harley Owners Group) puts out a touring handbook, which I brought along for backup. It has maps of every state, and every Harley dealership. It came in handy many times, when the GPS lied to me. It is a Magellan Roadmate 2200T. Costco special, coupla hundred bucks. Compact. Waterproof. Has an optional memory chip, so you can store and display pictures, play mp3 music files. It nags you, in a pleasant female voice, so you don't get homesick. When you are riding along, you have the brightness and volume turned up all the way.
But you can't hear it nag, just like being at home. You know it said something, but thru the helmet, and wind noise, all you can do is glance at the screen to see if you missed the turn. Again.
I know the data base is flawed, because when I tried it out at home, it tried to route me off onto an overpass with no exits. It had me turn right to go to Applebees, when I knew to turn left. So, I don't trust the little sucker. It can be fickle, requiring semi-frequent use of the reset button. That being said, in a pinch, in a strange place, with lots of traffic and construction, it can be strangely accurate and helpful. And in all fairness, I haven't totally mastered the learning curve.
Still, it froze up and got me lost, so it was almost dark, and looking like rain any moment, when I got to Dodge City. I got to park under the eaves of the Wyatt Earp Inn. It rained that night. I got a really good rib eye steak dinner right next door at the pancake house. By morning, the rain had let up, but I could see it was not over. It was Sunday, and I got the day off to a good start with a bowl of menudo at Taco Jalisco, no habla englis, before heading out to Platte City, Mo. My luck had run out on the good weather.

Day Three, Sept. 5

I met our friend, Scott, for breakfast in Cortez, Co. Scott is a park ranger at Mesa Verde, and was our neighbor for 25 years when we lived in the Bay area. I made a stop at the Harley dealer in Durango to get a t-shirt. I had a couple extra days to get to the rally in Kansas City, in case of delays from bad weather, or bike trouble. I should have stayed in Durango and taken the narrow gauge train ride that goes to the old mining camps. It would have been a good way to use one of the extra days. Hwy 160 goes up over Wolf Creek pass, over 10K feet, which marks the continental divide. The summit is totally unmarked. Colorado roads are not kept up as well as most of the other states I rode thru. I stayed in Walsenburg, Co. The motels all have continental breakfasts, which tide me over until dinner, or supper to you mid-westerners.

Day two Sept. 4, 2008

I left Ely, Nv. a little late to do the scenic route to Monticello, Ut, so I had to use the freeway to shorten the ride from 538 to 431 miles. I saw a small dead brown bear along side the road, and a couple small herds of antelope. One of the antelope ran across the road in front of me, but in plenty of time for me to slow down. Utah just kept getting more and more beautiful. The scenic view turnouts are great photo opportunities, and most of them have restrooms. Moab, Ut, would have been a much better choice of a place to stay. The bike is running great, and the weather is still sunny and cool.

Back home, safe and sound.

Where to begin? Seventeen days, and 4,488 miles. I left Sept. 3rd, and went around the North shore of Lake Tahoe, which was a beautiful way to start. I went across Nevada on Hwy 50, "The loneliest highway," in near perfect riding weather. It was here that I had my only close call of the whole trip. A 16 wheeler semi passed me going in the opposite direction and hit me with blast of wind that knocked my left foot off the peg, and I stubbed my boot toe on the road at 70mph. That sent the bike into a high speed wobble that scared the daylights out of me. In a second, it stabilized, but it was a heart pounding moment. I jammed my foot harder on the peg every time a truck went by the rest of the trip, but never encountered another wind blast like that.
In Ely, Nv. where I stayed the first night, I met four Dutch tourists on rented Harleys. They had started in New York, and were going to San Francisco. The weak US dollar is attracting a lot of tourists from all over the world. They thought our gas is cheap at $4.00+ per gallon. They were sitting outside the motel, smoking cigars. We took pictures of each other. When they went to dinner, they returned with a very cute little blond lady. Turns out, she was the wife of one of the guys, which is not what I first thought. In Nevada...well, you figure it out.

Sunday Aug. 31

So, that went well. The pictures came thru just fine. I added the saddlebags to the V-Rod for the trip. I do all the work myself, and I buy most of my parts on the internet. They are cheaper, no sales tax, and it saves me the gas of shopping around.
Yes, what you see strapped on the back is extra gas - two an a half gallons. The V-Rod has a 3.7 gallon tank, which gives it a range of about 110-120 miles, maybe less when it's loaded down. I'm going thru southern Nevada and Utah where it can be much farther between gas stations. The whole purpose of this trip is to see as much of this great country as I can, so freeways are out as much as is practical.
It was hard to decide what to pack. Kansas can be 100 degrees, and the passes in Colorado are over 10,000 feet. You can't ride safely if there is snow on the road, but it can make for some really pretty pictures.
My grandson tells me I can send pictures from my cell phone to this blog, and they will post as I do the trip. So far, I haven't been able to complete the setup to do this, and I suspect the problem may be with Verizon, my cell phone provider. I won't have any computer time until I get back home, so the rest of this blog may have to wait until then.

The long journey.

I am looking forward to this trip more than anything I've done in a long time. How do you live your dreams? You need a dream, you know, to keep you going. Life, to be lived fully, requires a passion. It is the fuel that keeps the fire burning, especially after you retire. Mine is riding motorcycles. I share it with hoards of other people, so there is nothing too remarkable about that. But, at age 69, I plan to leave on a 4800 mile cross country trip, by myself, on a motorcycle designed for much shorter trips, and much younger people. It is a 2005 Harley V-Rod, and I'm leaving next week. I would have done this sooner, but life got in the way. Last year, it was my 50 High School class reunion. Now, I'm pretty new at this blogging business, and I never did type fast, but I'm gonna quit now, and try to import a picture or two.