20121212 - New Port Ritchie to New Port Ritchie via Okeechobee, Naples and Ft. Meyers

Another weekend ride.  The plan is to run across to Okechobee and look at some houses and come back through Naples, Ft. Meyers, Tampa and back to New Port Ritchie.  Depending on what time I'm done looking at houses, the route will look something like this.  Fort Meyers and Naples  might be good areas to look in for a house, so I'm going to do some scouting.  I don't have to be back until Monday at 9:30 so I can make my morning meeting, so I can take my time and do some exploring along the way.  I've already ridden alligator alley a couple times and I've ridden from Bradenton to New Port Ritchie before; but, most of the rest of the route is new.  I'm particularly looking forward to the trip around the lake.  Weather is supposed to be sunny and 70's tomorrow in Okeechobee.

The original plan was for me to leave in the morning; but, doing hours and thirty minutes of riding and getting there at 8:30 meant kickstand up at 5 am sharp and a 4:30 wake up call.  I get up early enough as it is, I don't need to do that.  It's not like I'm trying to make a 7am boat launch or do an IBA run. When it dawned on me that this was the situation I was in, I threw some close, my computer and chargers  in my hard case, forgot my toiletries and headed out.  When I got to Lakeland Florida, it was time to stop for dinner.  Cracker Barrel is one of my favorite restaurants when I'm riding.  Their service is always good, the food consistently good and usually, I don't have to wait very long.  Tonight, I had to wait and while I did, I pulled out my ROAD ATLAS to check out the remainder of the trip.  I knew I would have to turn south soon.  I just didn't know when.  As it works out, I need to go south now.  I've riddnt into South Central Florida before, and it's sparsely populated and I can't remember seeing any nice clean hotels, so I was thinking maybe I should just stay here tonight.  I've got an hour of riding under my belt, so I don't have to get up early tomorrow.  Right about then, I saw the embroidering on the jacket of the guy sitting in front of me.  It said 2,000,000 safe miles.  Yes, 2 Million.  So I asked him if he knew anything about the trip to Okeechobee and chances for hotels along the way.  In a perfect southern drawl, he said "You need to stay riiiighhht here."  A friend of his, apparently another truck driver happened by and the guy I was talking to asked him.  He also said I wasn't going anywhere tonight if I had any intentions of sleeping in a hotel before I got there.  So, there you have it.  I decided I'd be staying here.  It also so happened that there was a Sleep Inn right next door and they had rooms.  So, here I am, writing this post from room 202.  Oh, I didn't mention.  I'd been using my phone pretty hard today and the battery was at 10%, which meant that if I got out into the sticks, broke down, etc. I wouldn't be calling anyone for help...another good reason to be here.

[Lakeland to Naples]

39 degrees was the temp at 6am when I went kickstand up.  I had to be in Okeechobee by 8:30 to meet Jeff, my real estate agent.  I had enough sense to take my heated gear with me, so temperature wasn't really a problem, except for the continual fogging of my windscreen and face shield  on my helmet.  It was just cold enough in the wind to want the shield down; but, every time I put it down, it would fog right up.  Leaving it cracked one notch was just enough to allow an annoying amount of cold air in.  That was the best I was going to get, so that's the way I road.  It's better to have a cold face than not be able to see at all.  It was dark at 6am.  The sun was going to snooze for another half hour, maybe more.  The route took me down 98 to 60 to 441.  It's a nice ride and the guys from last night were spot on.  There wasn't a hotel, motel or inn anywhere in sight.  The Trans Canadian Highway has more places to stay...by a long shot.  There wasn't much in the way of restaurants or gas stations either.

As planned, the sun started peaking up over the horizon and I happened to be in a place where there weren't many trees or obstructions, so I rode into the sun rise for the whole show.  First, the fog coming off the wet areas became visible, then the horizon started to turn purple, then a layer of orange, that faded to peach, then to purple again and then light blue.  It was pretty spectacular.  At some point, a cloud got in front of the sun and you could see the outline of the cloud in front of the rising sun.  It was very cool.  Temperatures weren't much higher than 41; but, I knew that it would be getting warmer by the minute now that the sun was on the rise.

Right about the time the sun was all the way up, I passed a sign that said "Panther crossing."  Panther crossing???!!!  So many questions come to mind when seeing a sign like this...Are they kidding me?  How big are these panthers?  How fast, hungry and angry are these panthers?  Have there been motorcyclists torn out of their seats by panthers?  What is the proper procedure if you encounter a panther at highway speeds?  Do you slow down, let it approach you and then gun it?  Do you twist some throttle and try to go behind it?  Do your drive at it and let it decide which way it wants to go?  Seriously, what do you do?  I know for sure the guidance on what to do if chased by a dog is complete BS.  I guess you just make your decision and go with it.  I imagine hesitation could get you killed.  What if the panther knows you're confused, or was taking lessons from a squirrel on how to make a motorcycle skid off the roadway....panther causes accident and then goes and starts eating the wounded motorcycle rider.  What a very smart; but, lazy panther.  Anyway...

I arrived in Okeechobee about half an hour early.  I had no idea but, Okeechobee actually has some infrastructure.  The first thing I saw...and I didn't have time to look around...was a Golden Corral.  I'd never been to one of these places; but, the idea is...all you can eat for like $11.  They have a serious breakfast spread.  It's almost like a brunch spread.  All I wanted was an omlet and some toast.  Since I was paying for it, I got a small cup of corn beef hash and a small cup of grits too.  That plus the omlet plus a cup of tee made for a good breakfast.  I was tempted to eat more; but, there was this guy with his name on the back of a school bus drivers hoodie that weighed 400 pounds if he weighed an ounce.  I was there less than 15 minutes and in that time, I saw him get up and get 3 plates of food.  When you think about it, where else would someone this big eat, particularly on a bus drivers salary?  This ended any ideas I had about tying on the feed bag.  It was almost enough to make me break down and have yogurt and fruit for breakfast.  Fortunately for me, I saw this guy BEFORE I spotted a huge container of BACON.  Had I not, I might have just taken that and eaten that for breakfast.  Maybe this was an intervention from God.  Again, I digress...

I met Jeff.  He's a very affable, Kentucky bred, ex law enforcement kinda guy.  We got along right from the start.  The first thing he said was that there was a Christmas parade in town and the whole town is going to be a giant mess in just about half an hour.  He suggested we take my bike over to his house, about 3 miles away, and park it there.  He said it would be safe and we'd ride around in his pickup truck.  We did that.  Blah, blah blah.  We saw a bunch of crappy houses.  Blah, blah, blah.  Back to the bike.  Jeff and I shook hands and I was back on my bike.  Now, it was a pleasant 71 degrees.

I followed 441 around the east side of the lake.  It's a big lake; not great like big; but, big nonetheless.  For some reason, I couldn't find rt. 27 to take me to rt. 75; but, that's OK.  I stayed on 441 all the way to Davies Fl., right outside Ft. Lauderdale.  It was 81 degrees on the East coast.  Traffic was horrible.  There were way too many traffic lights and lots of cages darting in and out of traffic.  441 leads to 595, which becomes 75 - the Alligator Highway.  The Alligator Highway is so named because it cuts through the Everglades and probably does host a couple million of em.  The interesting thing is that about 30 yards off the pavement there is a fence that is 8-10 feet high and topped with 3 strands of barbed wire.  For those of you that don't know anything about barbed wire topped fences, they are always angled toward what you want to keep out; prisons - angled in, private residence, angled out.  These were angled away from the highway.  This begs the question...what is on the other side of that fence that requires barbed wire topping on a fence because it can scale an ordinary 8-10 chain link fence? I can't imagine an alligator scaling any kind of fence...digging under, maybe.  As for snakes, if they are small enough, they could fit through; but, I can't imagine the barbed wire topping stopping a snake that really wants to get over.  I imagine a properly sized boa constrictor could get over a fence that size.

On the other side of the Alligator highway is Naples.  I wanted to look around, and the sun was going to go down soon enough, so I found a hotel and checked in.  The guy at the desk was nice enough.  He thanked me for being a loyal Best Western customer and gave me a suite with a King sized bed for a regular room price.  There's also a balcony with chairs on it.  Very nice!

Hopefully, I'll get more sleep than I did last night.  The idiots in the room above me were loud until about 1:30 in the morning.  Some people are just inconsiderate.  For some reason, I couldn't sleep either.  I remember waking up every hour on the half hour.  The only time I don't remember seeing was 4:30.


...

Sleep was good.  It's possible there was even some drool involved.

Since today was going to be a light day of riding, I decided to get some breakfast, call Dad for his birthday and wait until temps reached 60 something.  There's no need to put on an extra layer of heated clothing when it's just not needed.  The plan was to ride out to the bay and stay as close to the bay as possible. 

Leaving the hotel, I went West until I hit 41N.  That took me to 865 and onto Ft. Meyers Beach.  This was a huge bummer.  Real Estate is so built up that it's nearly impossible to see the bay from the road.  All you see is big hotels and palm trees.  What a disappointment.    Oh well.

Coming out of Fort Meyers, I wanted lunch and was in the mood for fish, so I stopped at the Fish Monger restaurant.  I walked in and was greeted by half a dozen seniors that were sitting at the bar with football jerseys on.  The first question they asked was who I was rooting for and I said I didn't care.  They said I could root for the Packers or the Steelers.  Whatever.  Then I waited, while other seniors showed up and were served first.  I was getting pretty torqued that I was being ignored.  Apparently, these were regulars.  Finally, the bartender came over - yes, I was sitting in the bar - and I was able to ask for a menu.  That and my iced tea took awhile to get to me; but, it finally made it to my table.  I ordered the Mahi Mahi, sandwhich,blackened.  The sandwhich had real fish on it and was pretty good.  If only the service were better, I'd recommend the place  That said, I wouldn't recommend not going, just be prepared for a wait.  Onward I went.

The trip got a little better as I made my way up to Sanibel Island.  $2 gets a motorcycle across the bridge vs. $6 for a car.  It's a very cool bridge that crosses the bay.  It's worth the $2 to cross.  The island is pretty neat and it was interesting watching people fish, with pelicans standing right next to them waiting for them to reel something in.  Lazy birds!  They know how to fish.  They should be out getting their own meals.  Next think you know they'll have Internet and call for Pizza.

Once off the island, I thought I should start getting home if I wanted to be home before dark and before the temps started to fall, so I made my way to I-75.  I've learned my lesson that there is nothing to be gained by traveling state and county roads along the Florida coast...either side.  It's nothing by people, traffic and more traffic lights than can be imagined.

I managed to get home just after the temps descended back into the 60's.

Here's the whole route...

How long will it take me to completely fill in Florida?  I know...resolution matters...

20141207 - Ride like a pro course

Today started like any given Sunday.  I was up long before the sun and putzing around on my computer.  I don't know what made me think of it; but, I remembered that the Ride like a pro course was somewhere in Florida.  I wanted to take this course, so I looked it up.  I was shocked to find that the course was being taught by Jerry Paladino himself, right here in New Port Ritchie.  OK, what dates are available?  I know that course sometimes has a waiting list.  What?  Today?  It's 8am, what time do they start?  9!!!  It's only 6 miles away.  I can easily make that.

I paid the $175, showered, got gas and made it to the site without any problems.  I was early and there was only 1 other guy there, other than Jerry.  I found out there were a couple cancellations due to weather.  Weather!!  It was 65 degrees and misting.  The pavement was wet, but please, weather?  Anyway.  Jerry looked at my bike and said with radials on, I should be fine.

The day starts with the slow ride.  Andy, my class mate, was riding a new Harley Street Glide.  He went in front of me.  We both rode pretty slow, so much so that Jerry said that was enough of that.  Time to move on.

The second exercise is the cone weave.  At the end, there is a U-turn.  This was pretty easy also; although Jerry noted that I lean with the bike.  He said fine at high speeds, not good at low speeds.  I need to counter lean.  Fair comment.  After doing several of these, we moved on.

I noted as we were going that we were constantly going through the exercises.  In a class of 12, there would have been a slower pace and not as much individual attention.

So far, so go.  We took a break and when I took my riding jacket and helmet off, I realized I was soaking wet from sweat.  Your body is working harder than you think.  I couldn't stand to put the jacket on it was so wet.  I turned it inside out and hung it over a chair to dry.  I grabbed my Harley rain jacket and mounted up.

About this time, Donna, Jerry's wife arrived.  She's a pretty fantastic rider.  She can out perform probably 80% of the rider s I know at slow speeds on a big bike.  She would help demonstrate many of the things we would do.

Next up, offset gates.  Think of these like switch backs, only they are staggered and you have to turn nearly 270 degrees to get back far enough to get to the next gate.  It is an absolute requirement that you don't pay any attention to the gate you're going through.  Your eyes need to be on the next gate.  Of course, as we got better, the gates became smaller.  We would do gates for the rest of the class.

The next exercise is the clover leaf.  We did a couple with a full circle in them.  This is where things start to get tough.  Andy dropped his bike twice in the clover leaf.  I came close countless times.  It's very hard.  It's all about friction zone, and focusing on where you want to go.  Some time in here, Donna started shooting video and sometime after that, Jerry started leading all 3 of us into the cloverleaf at the same time.  This made me very uneasy.  Oh, I forgot to mention that after the first couple rounds, Jerry made the entry gate very narrow.  There was no way to swing wide.  After this, we moved on to the circles.  There were 3 consecutive circles - 24 feet, 22 feet, 18 feet.  Andy got through all 3 without problems.  I did not.  The 24 foot circle was easily doable.  22 feet was where the trouble started.  I almost dropped my bike several times and exited prematurely.  It took many many evolutions to get comfortable with the 22 foot circle.  It's very tight.  It was at this time that I learned that I really needed to use the rear brake to make this circle.  At some point, we stopped and took another break.

Next up, we did the emergency swerving exercise.  At 20 mph, we had to emergency slow and take evasive action around a clover leaf.  This was simple.  I feel like I could have done it twice as fast.

Next up, the competition.  The idea was to do the clover leaf as quickly as possible.  Donna did it in 23 seconds, Andy 26.something and me, 26. something, with a 1 second penalty because I touched a cone.  I actually did it twice because the first time, I was a full second behind Andy.  Andy gets the best rider trophy.  Pretty funny for a guy that dropped his bike three total times during the class.

After this, we were done.  Jerry asked if we wanted to stay and work on anything and I said that I definitely wanted to go back to the circles.  They were frustrating me.  Finally, I was able to consistently get the 22' circle.  My handlebars were at the post though.  About the 10th time trying to get the 18' circle, I drove the bike into the pavement.  I simply stepped off the bike as it went down.  It's a horrible noise and I was wondering how much damage there would be.  I had crash bars on the front and the rear.  Now was the test.  I uprighted the bike and had significant gouges in the crash bars and one dinged panel toward the top of the bike.  Ughhh.  Well, clearly, the bars just paid for themselves.  The last time I dumped the bike, it cost $1500 to fix.  If I want to fix the one panel, it will cost about $150 bucks.  Not to be one to give up, I got back on the bike and kept trying.  Finally I got it.  I made it all the way around the 18' circle.  Over the course of the 4 hours, I made the 18' circle maybe 3 times.  It's very hard and I need more practice.  I'm sure the bike can do it.  It's the rider that needs work.

When we got done, Jerry said I did a great job.  He said the last guy that came though on a K16 couldn't do the offset gates at all an that this bike is a handful.  He said the light flywheel makes things very difficult.  He said if you notice, there are no BMWs seriously competing in motorcycle rodeos.  He said the LT's were much worse.  He also said that Gold Wings were easier to ride in this course.

Jerry and Donna offer 50% off if you take their course a second time in a year.  I definitely will and I will probably take it more than one more time.  As long as I'm so close by where they train, I will keep coming back.  At $175, it is well worth the investment.

20141130 - Lake Placid Florida and back

I'm late in writing this blog entry by a week.  Normally, I'm much better at keeping up.  What can I say, it's been busy.

[First a little catch up]  As some of you already know, I moved to Florida.  This is the second time that my bike has been tied down.  I bought a 7x14, dual axle, enclosed trailer.  While I like riding cross country to get my bike wherever I happen to be living at any given moment, it was getting pretty expensive to keep flying back to pick it up wherever I left it last.  When I'm on the move during winter, I want my bike with me and I can't justify paying airline expenses and/or hauling expenses.  After awhile, it simply adds up and pays for a trailer.

As a note to all my die hard friends who say ride it come hell or high water - sue me.  I don't care.  I've ridden in snow, sleet, freezing rain, high winds and on ice.  I've ridden in temperatures that are close to zero.  I've ridden one hell of a lot of miles and with my bike with me everywhere I go, I will lose far less time playing catchup, and ride much more.  I have nothing to prove to anyone.  In fact, as a result, I'm riding now when I would otherwise be without my bike for much longer.

[Back to regularly scheduled programming]  Sorry for the dissertation and digression.  It was an awesome, sunny and warm November day in Florida.  Half of the United States was covered in snow.  Minnesota, where I narrowly escaped freezing temperatures and snow, was reporting 12 and was under 16" of snow. This ride started in New Port Ritchie and went to Lake Placid Florida and then continued on rt. 70 to Tampa and back to New Port Ritchie.   Sinyeon was with me.  She's becoming quite comfortable on the motorcycle.  She tells me that she sleeps back there.  She's dying to take some riding lessons.

About midway through the ride, we stopped at a BBQ place - Fat Boy's, I think.  It was 45 minutes North of Lake Placid on Rt. 27.  The staff is very nice.  Sinyeon got beef and I got pork.  They didn't have shredded and the sliced were bland.  The beef, on the other hand, was tasty.  I'd go back for the beef and to try something else.  You could definitely stop at much worse places.  Oh, in true southern fashion, the sweet tea was perfect.

The whole reason for this ride - as if there has to be a reason - was that I'm looking for a place to buy a house and want to check out different locations.  This one would put me neatly between coasts, probably afford me some hurricane protection and I could dive either cost readily.  That was the thinking anyway.

Coming back, it was mostly uneventful, except that the sun was ducking down and the warm air was going with it.  I wasn't cold and with my touring jacket on, I'm good into the 50's without heat.  I was worried about Sinyeon though.  Shes a tiny girl and doesn't have extra insulation.  She had she had a couple sweatshirts on, a jacket and a wind breaker; but, I didn't think that would be enough.  I asked her to tell me if she got cold.  I worried about it from Lake Placid all the way back - about 3 hours.  I asked her several times if she was OK and she kept saying she was.

We got to the Tampa bay just about half an hour late.  As the sun went down, it turned the western sky to an awesome orange, a sight I'm sure would have been much better if we were on the bay bridge at the time.  As it was, we were going in and out of trees.

When we got into Saint Pete, it was chaotic.  Traffic was flowing; but, it was time for an abundance of caution.  Just as I was exercising said abundance of caution, a police car comes up hard on my left, lights and siren going.  The car in the left lane simply stopped and didn't yield to the right.  I stopped to give up my lane in case he wanted to go around to the right...and because I'm supposed to.  Instead of taking the right lane, he just sat behind him, siren wailing.  In retrospect, he was right to do so.  If he tried passing on the right and all of a sudden, the car decided to yield to the right, it would have been problematic. After about 15 seconds of this, he took the turn lane and passed him on the left.  About a block later, I see another police car on my right at the corner of the intersection in front of me.  It looked like he was stopped on the corner but given what I just saw, I covered the brake anyway.  He didn't look like he was trying to get though the intersection; but, then he turned on his siren and I started an emergency stop.   Sinyeon's helmet forcefully hit mine.  If she weren't wearing it, she'd have broken her nose.  I could probably have stopped; but, I would have been right in the middle of the intersection and I had no clue if the guy behind me was paying attention.  I decided to keep going.  I remember as a paramedic being much more assertive in emergency driving.  This police officer was at least as far back as the stop line.  If I wanted the intersection, I advanced safely and firmly forward.  I left no ambiguity about where I wanted to go.  That wasn't the case here, and I think it was dangerous.  I'm very happy that there wasn't an accident.

So, I'm still checking on Sinyeon and she's still saying she's fine.  We're about 40 minutes from the house.  About 10 minutes out, I asked her if she wanted to stop for dinner and she said no, go to the house.  When we got there, she was frozen.  She didn't want to tell me she was cold.  She wanted to tough out the ride.  Well Sinyeon, guess what, you're starting to make your bones as a motorcycle rider.  I'm proud.  That said, don't do it again.  Tell me if you're cold.  There are options that generally involve hot food and beverage and even stopping for the night.

Here's my new map.  This ride was the little loop in the middle of Florida - 282 miles, just qualifying for a place on my blog!

20141017 - 20141019 - Minnetonka, MN to Branchburg, NJ

[From the deck of the Lake Express Ferry] The last couple weeks have been high paced in many ways.  That and my back being in rough shape and keeping me off the bike made me eager to do this trip.  Unfortunately, I was bringing the bike back to NJ to store it before the first blizzard hit, which is traditionally expected anytime after labor day.  I’ve probably been living on borrowed time.  It’s always sad when you’re putting the bike on a battery tender and know you’re not going to ride for awhile; but, since I was cleared to work remote and plan to go to Florida for the winter, at least, it’s only going to be about a month before I’m riding again.  So a serious melancholy accompanies me on this trip.

It all started at 5 am, when the alarm went off.  I wasn’t ready for it.  I’ve been sleeping in 4 hour increments for a couple days and my body was craving rest.  I reset the alarm for 5:30 and was kickstand up by 6.  My plan was to make the 12:30 ferry across Lake Michigan and avoid Chicago.  The GPS showed a 5 and a half hour ride in front of me.  With an initial fuel stop and then another along the way, I thought I’d pull in around 11:45.  The ride was nice.  I managed to get through Minneapolis and St. Paul before rush hour got under way and was on open highway before the sun even came up.  It was a low, solid overcast and the roads were wet; but, it wasn’t raining during my ride.  It looked like I missed it by an hour or less. 

Along for the ride were these new, custom fitted ear plugs with the speakers wired right into them.  I really like these.  They cut the wind noise right down to nothing; sound quality could be better though and the connection to my Sena kinda looks like a 3rd grader did it.  I will try to fix that.  All in all though, I’m really happy with it.

I arrived on schedule, even though my GPS thought I’d like to take a couple minutes to visit downtown Milwaukee.  As I approached the terminal, an older gentleman with a white cap on asked if I had a reservation.  I said no.  He said, “Well we should be able to get you on.  Are you on the motorcycle?”  My mind drifts to Bill Engvall - Here’s your sign.  I’m standing in front of him, helmet in hand in full  gear.  I digress.  The ticketing agent was very nice; but, didn’t have a clue what to do with a motorcycle, so she rang me up and looked at my receipt and said they must be having a special because the motorcycle goes free today.  In fact, if I were taking a car, they wouldn’t have had any room for me.

Boarding couldn’t be easier.  Motorcycles ride up the passenger lane (they asked me not to hit anyone).  They board the motorcycle to the front, and turn it sideways by a bulk head.  They use pretty much every inch of the ferry to load things. 

They have tie downs of every size available.  I chose to use 2 of my own; but, I borrowed 2 of theirs so I didn’t have to unstrap the bag on the back seat.  I opted to tie it down on the kickstand because there was nothing to stop the front wheel, like the head bar of a trailer.  This made me a bit anxious because I wanted to tie it down securely; but, not have too much pressure on the kick stand.  The new crash bars I had put on during the rally came in handy because it was easy to tie the bike down without getting tangled up on any plastic parts.

As I came up from the vehicle deck, I noted the sign that said I couldn’t go back down.  Ughhh.  I always like to check my tie down work and adjust things.  Bumps cause things to move and loosen.  I asked about it when I got upstairs and one of the mates said they checked my bike already.  It was strapped in well.  He said they’ve transported many a motorcycle and know what to look for.  While that made me feel a little better, I didn’t feel completely better.  I’ve tied down many a bike and know for a fact that motion can cause slack in tie downs.

The captain came on to let us know that Lake Michigan was going to be pretty choppy today.  Something about those damn Canadians sending down another cold front.  I’m hopeful that this isn’t the beginning of more polar vortexes coming our way.

Time across the pond will be 2:30.  One thing I’ve noticed so far is that there are both dancers on this ferry as well as drunks.  It seems like nobody was walking in a straight line.  The captain indicates we’re doing 39 miles per hour; but, we’ll probably slow down when we hit the choppy water.  As long as my motorcycle is upright in one piece when we get there, I will be very happy.

Very surprising is the severe lack of cellular reception on the lake.  How are people supposed to call for pizza delivery out here?

[From Port Huron]  On arrival at the dock, the captain gets on the intercom and invites all drivers to go to their cars and the motorcycle rider to begin untying his motorcycle.  So, I did that.  The way they had me parked, I was perpendicular to the door, so I did a standard 88 point, 90 degree turn in place to get aligned, only to find out that they weren’t going to use those doors, so I did another 88 point, 90 degree turn in the other direction to get back to where I was.  Getting out was going to be a bear.  The deck was stainless steel and it was wet.  The crew has done this many times and gave me a wide turn so I could approach the ramp straight on.  Bravo guys!  Once out, I set my sights on Niagra Falls and planned to make it across Michigan before I stopped.

Along the way, I was in the left lane, passing a car in the right lane.  When my front tire was parallel with his rear bumper, he decided to come over.  I happen to see him look up at his inside rear view mirror and had a feeling he would do that, so I grabbed a fist full of clutch and covered the brake.  Sure enough, he came over without looking.  In an instant, I switched lanes with him, pulled up along side the passenger door and let him know I was there.  It was some kid (18-23).  His dad knew what happened; but, the kid seemed clueless.  Within a couple miles, someone else pulled out in front of me without looking.  It’s inexcusable to not look over your shoulder!  Come on drivers!

So, I arrived in Port Huron around 7pm.  I saw a Best Western right next to a Cracker Barrel restaurant.  Perfect.  I checked in, got a quick meal and got out of my riding duds.  A check of the map shows 10 hours to NJ tomorrow.  I can do that and make dinner.  Game on!  Forecast:  Rain.  Somehow, I’ve been riding in between the rain drops all day.  I don’t think I’m going to get through without getting wet tomorrow though.

------

This morning's radar:

I can either stay in the rain all day, or I can go through sporadic showers.  I'm opting for the latter.  The hourly forecasts indicate that some of this should be clearing as well; but, buffalo, syracuse and the whole route from London Canada into PA will be rain all day.

[From Hackettstown, NJ] Leaving Port Huron, the temp was 42 degrees.  It was also dry.  I was expecting to stay dry until I got past Toledo; but, that didn't happen.  I was starting to get mist and really light rain by the time I hit Detroit.  I was in that kind of rain all the way until I was mid-way through Pennsylvania.  There were a couple of showers.  I stayed dry the entire time.  I know my rain gear pretty well and to ride in the constant driving rain, I need the hood up and inside my helmet, which is unconfortable and I usually get some water inside anyway; however, my gear can handle this kind of rain without any problem.  My boots got wet though.  I was wearing hiking boots because I could not, and still cannot find my riding boots!  In real heavy rain, this could have been a disaster because the temps were low; but, by taking this route, I was able to keep my feet mostly dry, and when they did get wet, I was able to put them out in the wind for a quick blow dry.  When I got about mid-way into PA, the temps all of a sudden started to rise, and I was seeing mid-fifties!  By the time I got to Buckhorn, PA, it was 60 degrees..

I think the defining feature of this ride was the fall foliage.  Minnesota, Wisconson and Michigan were all at prime, or maybe just a touch past prime.  Western PA was right at prime, and was gorgeous.  It wasn't until I got about a third of the way into PA that I started to see that the foliage was definitely past prime.  It was was an amazingly colorful ride and had the weather cooperated, I would have liked to see the leaves in NY and Canada.  I'm sure they were spectacular.

Before leaving Port Huron, I ran into a couple of Canadians.  I always seem to run into the nice Canadians.   Anyway, as the conversation between American's and Canadians seem to go, the conversation started about the motorcycle and my trip; but, quickly got into guns; but, then, somehow, we got onto 9/11 and he was telling me that on 9/11, when the airspace was shut down, planes on the cross Atlantic route to the US were being diverted to New Foundland.  He was living there at the time and said that there was such an overload of planes that people started bringing travelers from the airport to their homes.  I had no idea.  This was a dimension of that moment in history that I did not know.  I knew there were stranded travelers; but, now, I'm wondering how those folks got back home, who covered the cost, etc.  I thanked him for doing that and he said that people pull for each other when bad things happen.  My faith in humanity was restored.

Here's all the pics from the trip:

The route:

Bike tied down on the ferry:

Check out the wake from this high speed ferry:

Map of all the rides I've done on this K1600 that were over 250 miles in length:

20140907 - Mille Lacs Lake, MN

A couple weeks ago, I met a very lovely lady.  She's well traveled and loves adventure.  She's read some, if not all of this blog, and wanted to join me on a trip I was planning to Mt. Rushmore, and my journey in general.   Since she's never been on a motorcycle before, I thought a few shorter distance trips, building up to an 1200 mile weekend would be the thing to do.  Her name is Sinyeon, and this post is about her first ride.

What a day for this ride!  I don't think we saw a cloud all day and temperatures were between 75 and 80 degrees.  It doesn't get more perfect than that.  Most of the ride was very straight, which I thought was good for a first ride.  There's no need to go careening through canyons on the first time around.  OK, so maybe the route was too straight.  Sinyeon fell asleep for a little bit.  Clearly, she's not afraid of motorcycles in any way.

I wanted to stop in Brainerd, only because it's the place featured in the movie Fargo.  If there was any chance of me getting a picture of that big statute of Paul Bunyan, I was all over it.  Unfortunately, that statute was made for the movies and I guess they took it with them because the locals said no such statute exists.

Lake Mille Lacs is very pretty.  The lake is pretty big and the water very calm.  On the North shore, the breeze could be felt pretty strongly and was producing 8" rollers. :-)  Definitely very calm.  There was even a family headed to the beach for some boogie boarding.  Also on the northern shore, we noted a Bald Eagle flying about 20' above us; how majestic!  We also saw a crane, plenty of geese and even rescued a turtle.

The turtle was about 9" across the shell and weighed about 25#.  He (or she, who knows) was strolling toward the white line on the side of the pavement when I noticed him.  We made a U-Turn, then another and came up next to him.  He didn't like the idea of me picking him up and putting him on a different course...at least judging by the snapping jaws.  He can thank me later for saving him from death by squish.

Other than this, the ride was very uneventful.

How to stitch together a map of your travels

I posted the map of my travels to date and was asked by several people how I did it.  How I did it, and how you'll do it are probably different, so I'll give some ideas, resources and issues you'll encounter along the way; along with some ways to get through them.

First, you need to get frequent GPS coordinates along your routes of travel.  One easy way to do this is to carry a Spot tracking device.  Basically, you register your new device with Findmespot.com or a similar site and it will capture the signals sent from your device up to a satellite and record them.  I didn't figure it out early enough; but, you can download all the coordinates.  There are several formats that you can download them in, so pick one that will work with the software you choose.

I found Google Earth is a pain in the butt for this.  In order to use Google Earth, you need to make a fusion map of your coordinates first.  I don't recommend going this route, so I'm going to focus on alternatives.  Just know that it's a pain in the butt and I'm trying to dissuade you.  There are better tools.

I found GPSPrune.  It is a Java program that will take as input a CSV or even a GPX formatted file of coordinates.  I really like it.  There are a couple things to note.  First, by default, the program will not display a map, only your track.  In the icon bar, dead center, top, you'll see a globe.  Click it and you'll see your map.  The GUI is completely intuitive.  You can edit your map, add photos, audio, etc.  This is a really cool tool, and it's free.  The second thing to note is that after awhile, you'll run out of memory - just give it more, and don't be stingy about it.  You have to run this from the command line anyway, it's just another parameter.  The command you want is java -Xmx750G -jar gpsprune.jar -x.  The 750G part is how much memory you're going to give it.  When you're done making your map and exit the program, the memory will be freed, so don't worry about it, just give it lots.  Finally, you will need to have java installed on your screen.  Open a terminal session or CMD prompt and type java.  If you don't have it, you'll get an error message.  Just google it and download it.

If you know where you've been; but, you didn't have a  GPS tracker, you're in luck.  You can generate the coordinates.  I like this site --->>> http://gpx.cgtk.co.uk  You simply put in your start and end locations and bend the route to what you actually rode.  It's just like Google Maps and probably uses their API.  One note, there's an undocumented ceiling.  I've found it to be around 500 miles.  Beyond that, you'll get an error message.  Simply put in smaller segments.  After you give your route a title and save it, you'll have the opportunity to download the GPX file.  Simple.

If you have a GPX file and need a CSV file for your mapping program, try this --->>> http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/convert_input.  This will allow you to select your gpx file(s) and convert them.

I continue to use GPSPrune.  Every time I ride a new segment, I simply import the new segment into my existing map.

One last note...what if you can only download 100 points at a time and your trip was 250 or 300 points?  No problem.  If you're a Unix geek, like me, I don't have to tell you to cat them all up and append them to a file  cat *.csv >> really_big_csv_file.csv.  If you're stuck in the Windows world, open Excel, cut and paste them all into one sheet and safe as a CSV.  Note that GPSPrune doesn't won't except much beyond lat/lon/elevation and some notes, so you may have to delete some extraneous columns for it to be excepted.  If you're using Excel, it's easy to delete columns.  If you're using Unix, either cut -d",", F x,y or open vi and <ctrl> v to visually select the column you want to delete and use x to delete it.

Enjoy, and I hope this helps you make a very cool map of your adventures.

20140801 - Missouri and Kansas

Those that know me will tell you that I'm never committed to the plan until I'm sure it's best way to go...that includes during execution of the plan.  For example...I posted this...

...and rode this...

I have to say, this was a pretty eventful trip for having little in the way of scenery.  As above, I saw lots of corn and lots of soy.  I was joking above.  I saw a little of the Mississippi river; but, most of it was gorgeous farmers crops.

So, on day one, the plan was to get to Mankato, Mn and then run over to Sioux Falls Sd and drop down into Kansas from there.  I stopped in Mankato, only to realize there was a really nice route that would take me as far south into Kansas as I wanted to travel.  Bingo.  That's the road.  It's not interstate and looked promising; although, dreadfully straight.  Corn, corn, corn.  More corn.  If you've seen one square mile of corn...never mind, you should see it all so you can really appreciate how much corn we consume.  It's amazing.

At about 7pm, I found myself somewhere between Leavenworth and Topeka Kansas.  Going to my trusty GPS for lodging opportunities (hopefully camping), I found one place that said "Camping"  - no other description.  Since camping is what I sought, I told the GPS to take me there.  3 minutes into the journey, GPS commands a left turn...down a loose gravel road.  It was pea sized gravel with a firm foundation.  It wasn't problematic; but, deserved full concentration as there were ruts from cars, etc.   Any of those ruts could steer me into a skid.  While dealing with gravel and the sun in my eyes, I got another surprise...

Arriving at "camp," I come to find out that I'm at a boyscout camp and can't pitch a tent there.  This is bad since I just rode 5 miles of gravel road and didn't really want to go back.  Luck would have it that the ranger pointed to a camp only mile and a half from where I was at and only about 500 feet of it was unpaved.  This was the Lake Perry campground, and it was being attended by an older married couple.  It was clear that they were both born on a Tuesday and by Friday, they were married.    Her hearing was worse then his; but, she clearly heard him say "Just wait a minute while I have a look at that motor sickle."  We talked for a few minutes and they directed me to my campsite and asked me to return to pay if it was good enough.  It was fine.  Plot of land, check.  Electricity, a bonus.  $16.  No problem.  May asked where I was from and quipped that she could tell I wasn't from "these parts."  Jim said he was impressed that I was "geared up proper, unlike the other bikers here."   So, I pull in.  My BMW in the middle of a bunch of Harley trikes and motorcycles.  There wasn't another type of motorcycle to be found.  No matter.  I just wanted to pitch my tent before dark, which I managed to do.  Electricity was good; but, cell service was non-existent, so no Internet.  :-(  No matter, I was pretty tired and my eyes were dried out, so by 10pm, I was ready for bed.  There was some kind of music playing at the camp ground and some guy running his pickup truck around with hay bails on a trailer offering kids a ride.  After awhile though, the camp got pretty quiet, except the music lightly playing in the distance.  Well, about midgnight, all the rednecks came home to continue the party.  They thought it would be a good idea to carry on for the next hour.  It kept me up for a little while; but, I went to sleep pretty quick.  It was hot and muggy.  The tent fly needed to stay open most of the night and I didn't need the sleeping bag for but half an hour in the wee hours of the morning.

When I got up, I packed everything and was on my way.  I do wish there were a faster way to break camp; but, to put all that stuff on a motorcycle takes some effort.  Maybe I need to bring less.  Maybe that's the topic of another post.

So, come morning, I saw the same caretakers that checked me in.  I asked them where to go for breakfast and they were torn between the church and the firehouse.  They decided the church was best, so off to the church I went.  I picked up some cash so I could make a donation.  I should have known, biscuits and gravy was being served.  Nothing against biscuits and gravy; but, that's not a descent breakfast.  Of course, I stuck out like a sore thumb.  Well dressed church going folk and one hammered looking biker.  They were very welcoming and promptly brought me breakfast.  Mostly, they were talking about a gimp cow that they didn't expect to fetch much at market; but, actually brought in more than they expected.  While I was eating, another older man came in, ordered his breakfast and sat down next to me.  He asked about my motorcycle and started to tell me about his 90 something sporty.  Listening at times like these is important.  I could see that he really missed riding. He said he really wasn't strong enough to hold the bike up and was thinking about a trike.  I suggested that if money was holding him back, he should try a conversion.  He continued and told me about days when he used to ride a lot.  He'd never gone far from the area; but, loved it just the same.  A tear welled up in his eye as he spoke.  He said he took his wife once and before they got far, she just jumped off and never got back on.  I'm hoping this guy gets his trike or conversion.  He certainly has the spirit.

I left there thinking about this old farmer and how lucky I was.  I was at least 600 miles from my starting point and 28,000 miles into a a fantastic journey.  I thought about how I'd just keep going if I didn't have to go to a job on Monday.  Looking down at the GPS, I could see the boarder of Oklahoma ahead; how far, I didn't know; but, I really wanted to go there.  I didn't have a reason to go to Oklahoma; but, thought it would be pretty neat to go that far.  I stopped in  Moran Kansas.  I needed gas.  While checking the map, I found that Oklahoma was 2+ hours out.  That would mean adding another 4 or 5 hours to my riding, and would put riding up the Mississippi at risk.  It also happened that the cross road - Rt. 54 would take me all the way to the Northeast corner of Missouri and put me on the Mississippi.  Knowing I'd regret it, I turned East.  I thought about it constantly for several miles.  I knew that I was being a slave to the system; but, I also knew I had to make money to continue my travels.  Life isn't free.

After awhile, I was running out of water and wanted to get a bite to eat.  I knew I didn't really want McDonalds; but, towns were fairly far apart and non-chain restaurants even sparser.  As I was walking in, I could see this guy watching me.  He had the "I want to talk" look in his eye.  As i hit the door, I could see that he was hiking and had a pack sitting at the table.  He introduced himself as Noah and asked me where I was going to / coming from.  I told him about my last year of travels and he exclaimed "I knew it!"  He said he could tell by my bike, maps and gear that I was serious about my journey.  I had the look.  I asked him about his hiking and he said that he started in Delaware and was hiking to San Francisco.  If he made it, he'd be the 77th person to do it in modern times.  I gave him my card and asked him to find me on FB so I could follow his travels.  For miles after I left, all I could think about was how this guy is walking across the US with a 32# backpack, and I'm doing it on a world class motorcycle, with GPS, tracking, cameras, computers, and so much more.  I felt really humble, and still do.  I've got nothing on Noah.

Everything was pretty uneventful until I got to Mexico Missouri.  I had just pulled out of a gas station, when I saw this:

Well, I had to pull over and get the pictures.  The lawn artist happened to be mowing his lawn and gave me the full rundown on how it all started and how folks have been dropping off their toilets for years.  He said they're all respectful and call first.  He's looking for a black toilet now.  He said he as pretty much every other color.

The rest of my trip was really uneventful.  I saw some of the Mississippi, and, as usual, got to experience a little rain.  It wasn't much, and I was expecting much more.

So, it's time to share my map to date:

"Don't show nobody nuthin'" - BMW MOA National Rally 7/2014

It was my first rally and I was impressed.  There were almost 6,000 people there, and I'd have to say that at least that many showed up on 2 wheels.  I can't say I've ever seen so many bikes in one place.

This is just 1 minute of video, it took me 5 minutes to cruse through all the motorcycles.

I had serious luck the first day.  I've been wanting to get a set of Wunderlich crash bars (front and back); but, without a garage to work on my bike, having them delivered so I could install them was going to be problematic.  Wunderlich was at the show and was happy to install them for me.  While my bike was getting fancy new bars, I strolled over to the indoor vendor area, where I found Shuberth.  They were able to fix the air inlet tab on my helmet in a heartbeat.  2 for 2!  Now that the business end of the rally was done, it was time to enjoy the rest of the rally.  There was a pretty good vendor showing; but, I thought there were several groups missing.  I expected someone to be there from the Spot company selling Spot trackers and extras.  I expected a smattering of people selling GPS', camping gear, and other things.  No such luck.  That said, there was still an impressive list of vendors there.

I watched the GS Giants competition/demonstration.  They had an obstacle course set up in kind of tight quarters - with a big dirt mound in the center, and several obstacles that required serious skills to navigate.  Jeff Kurtz was narrating the event and some guy 'Coach' was explaining all the technical aspects.  Learning technical riding would definitely be challenging.

I also took in two seminars while I was there.  Jeff gave one.  He talked about life on 2 wheels and did a bang up job.  It was clear to the audience that he wasn't there to sell anything and was emotionally invested in what he's accomplished.  He came across as a straight shooter and was totally open and willing to share anything asked of him.  My biggest wish was that Jeff had put one or two slides up.  He's snapped and video'd so many good things over the last year; even a poster board would have worked.  If you haven't seen Jeff speak, go.  Be prepared to listen to someone who speaks from the heart and a tearful laugh.

Then there was a guy from Thurmont Md., my old stomping ground.  His preso was about mountain riding.  At first, I wasn't going to go; but, Jeff wanted to go and there wasn't a better looking preso in that time slot, so I decided I'd go.  As soon as the speaker walked into the room, it was clear that he was doing the preso to sell a service.  I can pick this kind of preso out; because, I've given so many.  Being a public speaker, I've delivered several types of speeches, most of them promotional.  Usually, I don't have a strongly positive or negative reaction to a speaker; and, if my thoughts are negative in anyway, they are very tempered because I know first hand how hard it is to stand in front of people and deliver a message.

The issue wasn't just the way he delivered his message; but, what he was saying.  The speaker was drawing parallels between his flying experiences and motorcycle riding.  Being an experienced pilot, I thought some of these parallels would be worthwhile; but, he took a totally awkward path that doesn't bode well for motorcyclists or pilots.  He discussed lines and related that piloting was about following lines in the sky - glide slope and localizer and how that keeps you safe.  He was saying that motorcyclists should follow a line while riding, always starting in the left most part of the lane.  He went on to say that he's so close to the double yellow that cars coming the other way have no choice but to notice him, maybe even move over.  He seemed to like this idea and even offered that it was his lane, he was "Pilot in command."  Well, PIC, doesn't apply to motorcycle riders in any capacity and in the aviation world, PIC gives you no authority to influence the behavior of anyone else.  At the absolute most, the PIC can declare an emergency and tell the controller what his intentions are, at which point, the controller is obligated to move heaven and earth to accommodate the pilot.  PIC is a term that is used in the aviation world when discussing the authority of the pilot to meet the extent of an emergency and who's responsible for aircraft operation.  That is it.  There is no flying a course to make another pilot adjust their course as a result.  It's a stupid idea in the air and it's equally stupid on the ground.  A 1000# mass traveling at 45 mph striking another object, also moving at 45 mph, weighing 2600# is going to result in bad things; and that is exactly what will happen when the car rounds the bend halfway over the center line.  I think what was being suggested is unsafe, and irresponsible.  He's not teaching on a track.

I had to believe that everyone in that room had enough common sense to select a lane position that affords them the best view of the road AND maximizes their chances for safety; and if it were just that, I wouldn't be giving this review.  There was a clear problem with the speaker's attitude.  It was clear that he was a commander, he was in charge when he was riding.  He spoke of a riding style, a zen like experience.  The guy behind me even started to hum.   The style was "Show nobody nuthin'."  How do you trust a guy that will charge you $1,000 for a riding course with that mantra?  Also, where's the bit about safety and fun?  Does he really think that anyone is watching him ride, hoping the glimmer of some ancient riding secret can be gleaned from his posture or manipulation of the controls?  I have news for him.  Nobody's watching.  More news...there's nothing that you can teach that is new to the sport.  Many have come before you and many are better than you.  500,000 buys you a raise of the eyebrow, for sure.  I concede that; but you claimed that nobody has embraced riding like you have.  I'm sorry; but, you're in a crowd of 6,000 BMW riders.  There are more than just a couple hard core riders out there that would gladly rip their pinky finger off than stop riding.

When he closed his speech, he was taunting the audience to give him another question.  He had a demanding tone I couldn't appreciate; except to say it removed any doubt about whether I would ever take a riding course from him.  This is not the type of instructor I'd want.

I'm hopeful that the MOA will not invite this speaker back.  I'm also hopeful that those people that do decide to ride with him stay safe and think about what he's teaching before blindly implementing it in practice.

20140628 - MN, WI, North Shore of Lake Superior and back

Woke up without a plan today.  The weather map showed a line of thunderstorms forming to the west.  The forecast showed that they would continue marching east.  Since they stretched from Canada to Mexico, there was no chance of me avoiding them unless I settled for a "local" trip.

The plan was to not plan this ride.  I thought I'd ride into Wisconsin and keep an eye on the weather, eventually hunkering down somewhere for the evening while the downpour ensued.  Getting out of Minneapolis was a challenge and a reminder to always have a road atlas on the bike.  It seems that rt. 36 is closed at Rice st, and when I made the detour turn, my GPS kept "recalculating" and trying to route me in a circle to get back on at the same spot.  The detour button was useless since you can't choose a road to avoid, and for how far; and the zoom settings don't give me the information I need at the zoom level I want it at.  Nonetheless, I managed to get through the detour and vowed to never leave the atlas at home again.

My first stop ended up being Hudson WI.  There's nothing special about Hudson WI, except that there's gas there and I needed some right away.  I also sat down for breakfast and checked on weather.  The storms were continuing to march toward Minneapolis; but, they were a ways out, so I had time to go north or south for awhile before they would be on top of me.  I originally thought I'd head toward Madison; but, Thunder Bay seemed more apropos.  I didn't have my passport with me; but, I could at least get up to Lake Superior.  So, a left onto Rt. 53 in Eau Claire and off to Superior I went.  Wisconsin is very nice.  It's green everywhere you look.

The strangest thing happened on the way.  15 miles south of Duluth, right at the weigh station, the temperature suddenly dropped by 23 degrees!  I mean like thermocline, kind of drop.  I've never experienced that on land.  In the water, it's common; but, on land, never.  I stopped for fuel just shy of Duluth; and asked a Harley couple about that.  They said they live in the area and that is common.  The water is very cold...as in there was ice on it up until 3 weeks ago kinda cold and that wind blowing over the water causes that temperature drop.  Riders up there were still wearing chaps and several layers; and they should, since the temp hadn't broken 60 degrees yet.  The cold water also meant that when the cold air coming off the water hit the warm air around it, fog would be prevalent over the water, and it was.  I could never see more than about 50 yards into the water, and most of the time, I couldn't see past the waters edge.

Looking at the weather, there was a think line of storms, a gap and then a huge storm behind it.  I thought I'd stay out and play some more, ride through the first line and probably make it home in the evening.  If not, I'd grab a place along the way.  I was reluctant to stay in Superior because I had no idea what the lake effect would have on this storm and if things got worse, I couldn't exactly hang out for a couple days.  I had to work on Monday.  I went out on Scenic North Shore as far as two harbors and decided to turn around.  It's beautiful up there and the homes are gorgeous.  I was keenly aware that there was another trip up there in my future, so there was no need to push this further.

Going back, I knew I would turn 25,000 miles on my less than 1 year old GT.  I don't know why that excites me; but, it does.  Given that my bike has to sit through the winter months, I think 25k is a good amount of miles for a bike that is used 90% of the time for touring.

As it was, I flipped 25,000 miles somewhere around North Branch MN.  Less than 5 miles later, I was in a down pour.  Visibility dropped to 100 yards or less.  Visibility gets a little worse than this; but, here's some video:

I ended up pulling under a bridge for about 15 minutes.  The rain didn't subside much; but, visibility improved just a little bit - enough to get back on the bike and start riding.  It wasn't long before visibility crashed again; but, this time, I was able to get off the highway and into a McDonald's to wait it out.  Looking at the weather there, it appeared that I would be there an hour.  It was horrible that I only had 30 miles to go in the trip and I needed to wait there; but, I did.  The storm was violent, with high gusty winds and lots of lightning.  The rain was heavy and visibility was poor at best.  About an hour into my wait, a couple walked in with helmets.  They were riding a Gold Wing and they were soaked.  Neither had rain gear.  I didn't ask how they got this far.  It had been pouring for over an hour in this area.  Shortly after we met, the storm cleared, and I was back on my way, riding into that gap I mentioned earlier.  It was still drizzling; but, visibility was good and I was much safer having waited.

Here's the video.....


This weekends routing and bounty:

Now, I have this 7-10 split thing going on with North Dakota and Michigan, so I'll need two trips to get both of those states.  I'll need a third trip to get Kansas and Missouri, leaving Kentucky, Alaska and Hawaii.  Who knows, maybe I can get everything but Hawaii and Alaska this year!

20140620 - Minnesota to the Badlands and back (1300 miles)

Originally, this trip was planned for a run out to the Badlands, to visit the park, tour the Minuteman Missile Launch Facility, run up the boarder to North Dakota and head back.  I was planning to get 2 states on my list of states to travel in one trip.

Instead, my trip looked like this....

The trip started with low overcast skies; but, no rain.  It appeared that as I got further West, I'd get through the frontal boundary and be greeted by clear skies.  Minnesota is a flood plain; but, they say the amount of rain they've had recently is unprecedented.  There was water encroaching on the roadways pretty much everywhere I traveled in Mn.  On Rt. 14, I came across a road that was partially flooded out:

When I stopped for breakfast and while taking a restroom break, I ripped the zipper off my touring pants.  I wasn't prepared to sew in a new zipper, so it looked like I was going to be riding with the castle gate open for the remainder of this trip.

Then, about mid way between Huron SD and Pierre SD, somebody wrecked their SUV about a mile or so in front of me.  I didn't see it happen but, saw cars start heading for both shoulders.  When I got there, I parked my bike and headed over to see if I could help.  There vehicle was over turned, no fluids on the ground, with 2 people and one dog inside.  One person was laying on the roof and the other was still belted in.  The dog was pinned between the head rest and the roof, which was now crushed in.  I asked the folks to stop trying to free the belted in person as they could hurt him worse.  Fire/Rescue was on their way and only 10 minutes out.  I didn't see any danger of fire.  In fact, I put the car in park, turned off the car and removed the keys.  After getting good assessments for the incoming medics and while evaluating level of consciousness, I asked if the passengers remembered the accident and one told me the dog jumped on her lap and startled her, causing the accident.  Note to self:  Always have the animals restrained in the back.  Once fire/rescue got there, I went on my way; but, not after reclaiming my helmet from the Highway Patrol who was happy to secure it for me since it was sitting outside the car.

Even with the 45 minute delay, I was still making good time.  It was early and I was in the Badlands.  I looked up lodging and my GPS pointed me inside the park.  I got to use my National Park Pass again!  Looking up food, there were fewer options; but, one of the locals told me that Ms. Sue cooks on Friday and Saturday evenings at Cowboy Corner.  So over to Cowboy Corner I went.  Friday is for chicken fried steak and Saturday is Prime Rib.  Damn.  OK, Chicken Fried steak is it...either that, or I was eating gas station fair for dinner.  Ms. Sue makes a mean chicken fried steak.  Seriously.  It was deep fried and swimming in gravy and onions.  It was good though.  I was pretty certain after eating it that I'd live forever.  If that didn't stop my heart on the spot, nothing will.

Lodging was courtesy of the KOA campground, just outside the park.  It was hot; but, I was able get my tent set up before the mosquito's started eating everything in site.  All is well.

On Saturday morning, I went to the Minuteman National Park first.  I thought I would get on an early tour, come back, ride the park and head off to ND.  That didn't happen.  The ranger said the first tour was at 1pm.  He asked if I could climb two 15 foot ladders if I had to. I said yes and he handed me a ticket.  Now the plan was to ride the park and come back for the tour.  I'd be leaving much later than I though though.  I knew this would put ND in jeopardy; but, it's not about riding states just to ride states.  It's about enjoying the experience.




 

After visiting the launch center, I started traveling Eest on I-90 when I saw a thunderhead building over Rapid City.  It was clear I was going to have to go through it; but, what was truly alarming was the explosive rate of vertical growth that I was seeing.  I didn't need to kick some gravel and throw some grass in the air (Bill Harding - Twister reference) to know this was trouble.  I decided that instead, I would tuck tail and run!  I grabbed the next exit and started going East.  The new and improved plan called for me to get 50+ miles away from that storm, check the weather and see if I could go North into North Dakota.  The issue was that if I had to be at work for Monday and couldn't wait it out where I was, get behind it and continue.  I decided if ND was to be an option at all, I'd have to try to access it from the middle of the state or further.

That storm was building at an incredible rate and covering a bigger and bigger area by the minute.  When I stopped and checked weather, I saw that the storm was covering an area about as long as the state is tall.  Plan B, now in the toilet, I decided to head for Sioux Falls, where 90 and 29 meet.  This was plenty far East and I could sit the storm out over night and if the weather in the morning was OK, head up to Fargo.  Incidentally,  another thunderstorm was coming out of Billings ND and headed for my location.  I was now outrunning a storm behind me and one trying to flank me from the North.

When I settled into my hotel room in Sioux Falls, the weather picture looked like this.  The weather channels said this storm system was bad news.  There wasn't a  tornado in the future; but, lots of hail.  I put my bike under the hotel overhang for the evening!

Sunday morning, I awoke to find this:

Hmph.  Well, the path to Fargo was clear; but, Weather in Motion showed this storm moving into the Minneapolis area after 12:45pm.  That would mean I'd make Fargo just fine; but, I might come back into this nastyness later in the afternoon.  It was at that point I decided to chart a course for Montevideo, MN to get North a bit and then ride due East back to Minnetonka.  Weather in motion also showed this storm continuing to impact a route home by interstate, so it was important for me to get North.

I arrived to choppy skies and building cumulonimbus clouds.  I was dry and not hailed upon.  Another successful trip!

NJ - MN - Reunited with the bike

Well, it worked out that I had to leave immediately after returning from my last trip for Minnesota for a contract.  I had to leave the bike behind!  Weekend #1 was spent getting some digs for the next 6 months.  Along the way, I tried several to get the bike shipped to me so I would have it to ride this weekend.  As it worked out, I couldn't get a reputable shipper to get me my bike for this weekend.  Unwilling to wait, I booked a flight and flew home to get it.  It works out well that I'm working 4 days a week and was able to fly Friday morning.

Weather on Friday was rotten in NJ and PA.  I could have left; but, I would have been a drown rat in no time.  I elected to take my contingency time up front and spend the day with my father.

Saturday, I got an early start..a little later than I wanted; but, my kickstand was up at 5:15am.  The idea was to maximize the amount of daylight available and get as far as I could.  I had my sights set on Waterloo IA by way of Dayton OH, where I would meet with an old friend for lunch.

The first half of the ride didn't go exactly as planned.  I seem to watch the arrival time on the GPS and try to battle it backward enough to account for my fuel times, giving me an actual arrival time that is spot on with the GPS.  Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't.  I'm very cautious to not get too far over the speed limit and get a roadside speed certificate from Barney Fife.  Everything was fine, right up until I got off I-70 onto I-75 to meet my friend Scot.  The exit was closed to get me to the restaurant and GPS re-routed me...right into some development.  I was 10 minutes away.  Scot, was able to find me and came to get me.  Instead of a 30 minute lunch, we were there for 2 hours!  I don't regret a minute of it.  Scot is a great friend, interesting guy and it was great catching up with him after many years.  That said, I was headed for trouble.

My mom called while I was enroute and warned of a severe line of thunderstorms out west.  They were in Iowa and stretched down to Texas.  Hrmph!  It was questionable how far I would get.  At some point Bill, my step-dad  was able to tell me that the line was only a few miles east of I-35.  This was great news because I would likely make it through Illinois and into Iowa before I had to stop.  The sooner I stopped, the more I had to ride on Sunday and the more likely weather would impact my arrival.  Lots-o-rain was forecast for Sunday.

I was still in Illinois when the sun dipped below the horizon.  I was headed north on I-74 and 50 miles from the turn to I-80 in Davenport IA.  I knew I had about a half hour of twilight.  I don't really like riding at night when I've been riding a full day.  I tend to get tired quick.  Interestingly enough, I was full of energy though.  I have to attribute that to having a long break right in the middle of my ride.  I checked the weather in Davenport and saw that rain was closing in on Cedar Rapids.  The question was which of us would get there first.  It wasn't possible to see the clouds any longer, so my first sign of trouble would be rain.  I felt pretty comfortable with that since the more severe weather was further north and what was in front of me was rain only.

As it worked out, I made it past Cedar Rapids a little and ended up pulling in to Urbana Inn and Suites at 11pm on the nose.  There were two Harley riders sitting there by their bikes talking.  I got my room and joined them.  I had stopped down the street for dinner.  Yes, I know it was late and yes, I know fried chicken isn't good for you...ever; but, it was great at 11pm after not having had anything for the last 7 hours.  These guys were riding out of Minneapolis/St. Paul and headed to Louisiana for some vacation.  I looked outside while I was getting my room and they were checking out my ride.  They were very impressed and, in breaking with Hog etiquette told me they really liked it.  I was impressed.  It wasn't long before one of them asked me where I was coming from and going.  When I told him I left NJ at 5am, he asked me what took me so long.  I answered with "a 2 hour lunch."  We had a great laugh about that.  After talking about riding adventures for nearly an hour, it was time to say good night and get out of my riding gear.  I did a quick check of the weather, which indicated I was screwed for tomorrow; and with that, I went to bed.

I woke up at 6.  I didn't want to wake up at 6; but, I did and couldn't go back to sleep.  Looking at the weather again, there was a thunderstorm nearly on top of us and a line of thunderstorms between me and my destination.  Weather in motion went out as far as 12:45 and showed that at 12:45, there entire route was clear.  That said, I packed the bike and cleaned a billion bug guts off my windshield.  Bike prepped and breakfast eaten, I decided to look at the weather again.  This time, weather in motion showed fresh thunderstorms moving into Cedar Rapids at 1pm.  Motion also showed that if I left now, I would probably be behind the storms as they advanced east.  I geared up for rain and planned to ride in rain at least half the time.  At this point Cedar Rapids was showing beautiful blue skies with puffy white clouds scattered about and very gusty winds out of the south.  The question was how far it would last.  The answer was 100 miles.  I didn't hit clouds for 100 miles.  When I did, they were low with ragged bottoms; but, not terribly dark.  Looking around, I could see blue skies to the west; but more clouds north.  As time marched on, and heat started to build, the clouds got lighter and started to break up.  By the time I was 50 miles out of Minneapolis, the skies were a beautiful blue with white puffy clouds, just like in Cedar Rapids.  Just a few hours ago, there were horrible thunderstorms here.  In fact, last night, they shut the airport down.  I managed to make the entire route without rain.  In fact, I had 1,000 more bug guts on my bike than drops of water from the sky.

The 1400 mile trip:

 

netted me one state that I haven't traveled to yet; but, reunited me with my bike so I can go on and get more!

Sorry, no video for this run, or Spot tracker for that matter.  I left both in my truck!

20140529 - Bar Harbor Me to West Greenwhich Ri

The day started at our B&B with, what else, breakfast.  Having been on the internet looking at weather for the last hour, it was time to come downstairs and see what Ralph was planning for us.

Breakfast started with some wonderful chocolate chip and almond scones and a cup of tea.  Mike was already downstairs and having trouble with the internet.  He asked me if I did anything.  Why do people always look at me when their connection to the Internet is broken?  I told him it must be his computer and about that time, someone else came down with the same complaint.  Clearly, I had the priority lanes on the Information Super Highway this morning.

Ralph offered us a menu and told us the special was polenta with black beans, salsa and 2 eggs any style.  We all ended up with the special, and it was fantastic. 

We planned to check out and tour the park.  There is a loop that runs around the park and we planned to get video of everything, plus stills.  Monies paid, keys returned and bikes packed, we made our way to the park.  It is a national park, so there is a fee to get in.  My park pass was still valid and has more than paid for itself, so I didn't have to break out any cash.

<<<<insert video and stills here  >>>>>


After the park, we decided we needed to make it a good way back home; but, wanted to take Rt. 1 and see things instead of just driving interstate.  We made that happen until we got to about Portsmouth.  We decided to take a long lunch and hopefully arrive in the Boston area after rush.  If that didn't work out, we were going to take a long dinner and do more riding after dinner.  Plan B is what happened.  We got as far as Lowell when the traffic was nearly stopped.  So, we took an exit and found a Chinese buffet.  Consulting my road atlas (for the 600th time this trip), we plotted a course for Woonsocket RI.  Yes there is a Woonsocket RI and I'm sure all you riders born after 1980 know what a road atlas is, how to use it, and carry it as religiously as I do.  Here's proof there is a Woonsocket.

Herby the Love Bug was also in Woonsocket on this day:

After Woonsocket, the temps were falling pretty fast.  We really wanted to get West of the greater Hartford area; but, that wasn't going to happen.  We ended up at a Best Western, where the chlorine in the hot tub was noxious!

Today, we're getting a late start to let traffic die out and will finish this trip, adding connecticuit to the list of states visited and complete our Northeast states tour.