Winter Riding

Here we are, in the middle of the "dark ages," mid-January.  Usually around this time of the year, cabin fever sets in.  Normally, my main activity is using my cool snow blower, cleaning my driveway (and the neighbors') of all the snow.  But, this year, so far, no snow.  In fact, last Friday it was over 60 degrees, so a few of us made a run out to Indian Creek Tavern on the bikes!  The middle of January!!

We are well into the planning phase of this summer's big ride.  My buddies (probably 12 of them) from Eastgate are going to ship their bikes out to Las Vegas in June.  They will fly out there to pick up their bikes.  Since Kevin, Curt, Guido, and I have a bit more flexibility because we don't work any more, we are going to ride out there.  We'll stop in Tucson for 2 nights, to visit my daughter Kristin, and to take a break.  We'll meet the gang in Vegas after that.  Then, for the next week, all 12-15 bikes will ride all over southern California:  Death Valley, Yosemite, Pacific Coast Highway.  The others will return to Las Vegas, and fly back to Cincinnati.  The four of us will ride back, mostly on Rt 66.  How cool is that?

2012 Ride??

We are in the planning stages for our next ride in June 2012.  We may have to change the name of the blog to something more appropriate, describing the upcoming ride...  stay tuned.

Well - it finally arrived. The long sought after prize of riding the Loneliest Road in America. One in which I ran out of gas I might add. Also, the one I rode on a bald rear tire. But all's well that ends well. Here is the proof of the effort - straight from the esteemed governor of Nevada - Brian Sandoval.

Bob

Summary Thoughts from the RWV

Hard to believe the trip has come to an end. Every day was filled with new adventures and jaw dropping sights. While we hit Sturgis at the end of the event, it's easy to imagine things in full swing.....as Mike described it..."Spring Break for 40+ Year Olds". The riding around Rapid City/Sturgis was beautiful and challenging...Iron Mountain and the Needles...great fun. We didn't so much leave South Dakota as "get blown out of the state". The winds were some of the strongest we had come across. I noticed the last day heading home from Bloomington, IL seemed mild with regard to wind turbulence in comparison to what we had encountered and in the end those tough experiences were a real confidence booster for a novice rider like me.

I've had a tremendous time on this trip and have memories to last a lifetime. Mike and Curt did an outstanding job planning for this, especially in light of the fact that planning sessions always were done over beers or bottles of wine. A good balance of structure and "what the hell".

Thanks to Mike and Curt as well for helping me prepare my bike for the trip and for Mike in helping me build some skills pre-departure...I couldn't have done it without these guys....and thanks to Alison for letting me set off once again...I think she may enjoy the breaks : )

A few words on each of my riding partners:

Mike --- great teacher, bike mentor and friend.....lot's of laughs....tries to come off as a hard ass at times but has a big heart that shows through all the time....even on a bike he talks to other drivers via numerous gestures...fun to watch...looking forward to our return to Fries and our story enhancement!

Curt ---- rode over 6K miles even though we knew his clutch arm/hand was hurting...showed great courage for this and agreeing to room with me....great job in Napa making sure we received the first class treatment....I've know Curt for a long time and have always appreciated his guidance, friendship and choice of wines....the latter may help enhance the former two : )

Bob --- I didn't really know Bob or Jim before the trip, but was fortunate to spend three weeks with these two....Bob is Mr. Fix It...I'm convinced there's probably nothing he couldn't repair on the road...comforting to have him with us. In addition, Bob offered two simple pieces of advice for me. One was "trust the bike"....I repeated this mantra many times until I actually believed it, and it really helped me in sweeping turns during all kinds of weather conditions. The second "Yoda" like piece of advice was "look through the rain". This one not so much help as we fought with wind, rain, hail, and fogging glasses and visors....it took all I could do to find Mike's tail light and stay on it.

Jim --- "Mr. Mayor" ....never met anyone he didn't know...at least within five minutes....Jim also got answers to questions he or anyone else had...so we never left an area wondering...thanks for closing the knowledge gap. In addition, Jim was always calm, cool and collected....helped me believe that we might not actually meet our demise regardless of the conditions...

Great riding with you all....looking forward to other adventures!

Home.

Well, we did it.  Curt and I began planning this trip while we were still sharing a cubicle at Procter & Gamble, maybe 3-4 years ago.  It started with the intent to be a retirement ride on Rt. 66.  Then, things changed, other trips trumped that plan, and we somehow landed on riding Rt. 50 to California.  Our thought was that we'd complete the Rt 50 ride east to Maryland in May 2012, riding to Rolling Thunder.  Our goal was to ride Rt 50 all the way across the U.S.  As planning went along, Kevin seemed to gain interest, initially asking if we thought he could do it on his Vespa.  How do we let this guy down gently?  He formulated a plan to get a Harley, which he did, and he committed to join us.  Jim and Bob had ridden with us in the past, so they also signed up.  The plan was set in stone.

As I said, well, we did it.  Done.  We've seen America in a way that I wish all Americans could see it:  not through the filters of editing on TV via MSNBC or Fox, or movies; but up close and personal.  A stop at a remote, random gas station in the middle of South Dakota (100 miles from any town of any size), and chatting with folks who stopped in there to have a cup of coffee with their friends is something you can't describe. After fighting 40mph cross-winds for 2 hours, these folks sum it all up when they see you, and nod with, "Yea, it's a bit breezy out there today."  They want to meet us, ask us where we're from, whether we'd been to the Sturgis rally, etc, etc.  Good, hard-working folk, enjoying their freedom and their country.

Interacting with other bikers is especially interesting.  We kept running into this other group of bikers, riding some kind of foofy bikes (not Harleys).  They even stayed in the same hotel we were at in Rapid City.  So, we joined them for a drink, and they decided to record us.  They have been chronicling their trip via YouTube.  Here's the clip they took of us:

 After Rapid City, it was all business heading home.

On the way southeast from Rapid City, we stopped in the Badlands for a few pics.

Very desolate, dry, hot, and windy.  But, in its own way, also very beautiful.

We had to stop at just about every gas station we came to.  Otherwise, we risked running out of gas, as it might be 100 miles before we saw another one.  But, the rewards were great, in that we met some of America's finest people.

In the middle of SD somewhere, we stopped for lunch.  This place is for sale, and I think Bob my buy it.  :)  They advertised having the best burgers on Rt. 18

This has been my office/cockpit for the last 3 weeks:  GPS, stereo, gauges.

Kevin's odometer:  6,154 miles....  yikes.

We have a tradition where we stop in Harrison, OH at the end of each ride, and share a beer before we break off to our respective homes.  This time, Curt brought out a bottle of wine instead.

Curt and me with wine in our water bottles.  End of another great ride.

 For those of you who are computer savvy, you can probably figure out how to access our Picasa Web Albums for all the unedited pics, if you're so inclined.

The Horse Finds The Barn

Finally made it home last night. Last leg was about 800 miles - in about 15 hrs. I got to say that I don't think I could have done that in a car. A Harley Ultra Classic is not only comfortable, but smooth - although mine is a little loud - :-) . First half of the day was wet but kept dry with a well sealed rain suit. I had bought a new helmet in the spring just for this occasion and it worked great. My face and eyes never got wet. Water in the eyes is the worst part of riding in the rain because it really limits your vision. You just need to focus ahead, lower your speed and hope nothing happens in front of you - it's a matter of trust.

It was a great trip! Mike and Curt did a great job of planning and keeping us on track. The pace was a Little grueling but when you cover the distance we did and still make it possible to see some great sights it demands a little discipline. Enjoyed the conversations with Kevin about diving and autocross - it seems we have some interests in common. Also enjoyed spending time with Jim and determining just what is wrong with this country of ours - I have a much better understanding now - I think.

So until the next retirement party - trip - I'll be looking forward to seeing all the pictures and hearing how everyone enjoyed our adventure.

Regards

Bob

Wow...one more day of riding....HOME

I guess I did indeed jinx our ride yesterday, when I mentioned that we had not had to put on our rain gear, with only 2 days left of riding.  Well, we sure used it today!  Heavy rain coupled with strong winds.  Even with the best rain gear, most of us still got wet inside, which is unusual.  Add to that, the temp was only about 60 or so.  I was chilled to the bone, when we finally stopped in Des Moines.  I changed my tee shirt to a dry one, and put on a jacket under the rain jacket.  I was toasty the rest of the ride.

The Missouri River is flooding in Iowa.  We drove through some low points of I-29, where they had sand-bagged the highway.  As we drove into these stretches, it was an eerie feeling, looking up at the water level on the other side of the sandbags.

I'm ready to re-enter reality tomorrow.  This trip has been fantastic, and it will be the source of stories I'll tell for the rest of my life.  Those who know me can attest to the fact that my stories will be embellished each time I tell them.  So, like a good wine, you'll like my stories after a period of time.  But, I want my own bed, my own washer/dryer, my own cooking, and my own recliner and TV!!!  lol

It should be a fun "victory lap" tomorrow....only about  300 miles, all of which in familiar territory:  all I-74 from here right through Champaign, Indy, and home.

It's been a great trip, and fun posting to this blog.  I'm sure we'll have a few more "post-mortems", once others get their pics categorized, saved, and published.

final night

Interesting day today. Suited up with rain gear in the morning due to a huge thunderstorm in our path. Sure enough we had the opportunity to do about 100 miles in rain with a 30 mile stretch in hail and really hard rain. All added to with high cross winds. Lovely.

Got out of the rain east of Des Moines and no further trouble.

Three of us decided to stop in Bloomington after 500 miles. We will do the final 300 miles starting in cool of the morning. Jim and Bob decided to motor on home so the group said our good byes. I have done the 800 mile final day three times now and did not have the urge to repeat it.

Now resting over a Jack Daniels getting ready for dinner. Our trip will end for us three tomorrow after 6000 miles on the bike. Great time with memories that will last a lifetime. Saw a lot if America.

Now, time to get home and see the family.

"It took me four days to hitch hike from Saginaw....all come to look for America.."

Okay, what song is that from, and who sang it?  One of my favorites, and one I can't get off my mind the last few days of this incredible 3 week adventure across America.

Today was very windy, even for the Badlands.  I can't even imagine how much worse it would have been had we decided to ride I-90 across South Dakota.  Today was my turn to lead the ride.  We usually ride open roads about 5-7mph over the speed limit; but today was an exception.  I had to keep the speed down to the speed limit, or even less, because the winds were blowing us all over that two lane road.  A straight cross-wind, from our right side.  In the rare occasions where there was  a curve in the road, it became even more challenging, anticipating the wind shift from our right side to head on, and vice-versa.  But, we made it to Sioux City, Iowa in good shape, got some Mexican food for supper, and we're now finally relaxing.  We plan an early start in the morning, with Peoria being our target destination for our last night away from home.

I don't know if it's bad luck to mention this....but in this three weeks of riding all over the country, we have not had to don our rain gear even once...  Knock on wood.... 2 more days of riding... Could this be some kind of record, if we make it back to Cincy without ever having to put on the wet weather gear???  Holy Crap!!

Heading Home by the RWV

Hard to believe three week's is almost up....had a great weekend in Sturgis (see other posts) but started home today. Incredible winds in South Dakota to contend with. I don't think we were upright on the bikes for more than 30 minutes all day... We had to lean heavy into the cross winds to stay on the roads.....tiring but kinda fun. Beautiful countryside.....few people....peaceful...some great sites like the horses lined up at the fences hearing our pipes and watching our passing...a couple of great looking Palominos....or the acres of Sunflowers all facing the sun framed by the corn fields and incredible blues skies all flooding your senses....very cool indeed.

My best friend the AirHawk seat cushion has given me an idea. I plan on patenting jeans with built in air cushions. I'll never sit on just my unprotected bum again. If I can get the engineering right it will be inflated with natural gas....at least the guys version. I'm sure I'll make a fortune.

I'm learning alot from these guys and really enjoying the sites and people along the way. I have a renewed enthusiasm for this country, all it offers, and the hardy people who inhabit the mountain and plain states.

See you all soon.