The plan all week was to take the bike for a 3 day leisurely ride, camping along the way and doing maybe 300 or so mile legs. I checked the weather this morning and realized that wasn't going to happen. It looks like I need to arrive on Saturday, or face rain and wind on Sunday. Then again, Saturday night could have snow and the temp won't be higher than 36. No matter how you slice this, I decided that I was better off being in the north part of the country than playing around in the southern half. I loaded my stuff up and left.
The plan now is to avoid Atlanta on a Friday, and instead, go through Montgomery Alabama, pick up I-6 and ride it up as far as Bowling Green Ky. From there, I'd pick up Rt. 41, yes, the same 41 that goes all the way into Florida and ride it to Chicago. 41 is also a free road. I-65, of course is owned by the toll Nazi's. Tomorrow will be quite tricky. I should be OK until I get somewhere in Indiana, when the temperatures are likely to be hovering around freezing. I'll need to be mindful of snow and ice.
So, today's ride was pretty nice. Of course, I've ridden Rt. 19 many many times; but, I had a nice lunch in Bainbridge Georgia. It looks like the center of town is on the decline; but, there is a nice deli right in the middle of town. I was looking for something other than standard fast food while on the road, and I found it. I ended up having a chicken tender sandwich with buffalo sauce, lettuce and tomato, plus chicken enchilada soup. It hit the spot.
The entire route up to I-65 in Alabama was state and country roads. This is exactly what I like to ride. There was a short 10 mile section of I-10; but, no other interstate until I-65. In fact, somewhere around Troy, I was thinking about how nice it would be to have some twisties. Before you know it, God blessed me with about 15 miles of 55 mph semi-blind sweepers. It was a nice break from an otherwise routine destination ride.
Once I got to I-65, everything was good until Birmingham, which I hit at rush hour. I'll take Birmingham over Atlanta any day. When the sun went down, temperatures started to plummet quickly and Nashville was hosting every sporting event known to man, so hotels were sold out for miles. I was just about to call AAA when I managed to find a room at a Super 8 motel. Actually, this room is quite nice, although I don't understand this:
So far, I've made it to Franklin, Ky. As suspected, this is where things get interesting weather wise.
The good news is that the snow has moved out of Chicago and my route today should be clear of falling snow. The bad news is that the temperatures won't break 35 for the majority of my route. That means that there could be snow or ice accumulation along my route. Also worthy of mention is that I called the B&B that I'm staying at. They can't accept an early arrival because they have people there. My check in is no earlier than Sunday at 3pm. The forecast shows 70% chance of showers at that time; but, the temperature will be in the 40's. It's nice when the options are limited...the plan is to go about 4 hours today, leaving at a leisurely 10am and riding for 4 hours, or maybe 5. That will put me 2 hours south of my destination. If I can get a late checkout tomorrow, I will leave at 1 and only ride 2 hour in the rain; but, it will not be freezing cold. As much as I don't want to be on the Interstate, I might be better off if there's any precipitation left on the ground. I-65 it is then.
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It's Sunday morning, and I've made it to Merrillville In., just shy of Chicago. Yesterday's ride took longer than expected. What should have been 6 and a half turned into 8, mostly due to horrendous traffic around Indianapolis. Indianapolis has more than it's share of clovers. Clovers is a term I heard first used in an article posted by my friend Jim. It describes drivers that aren't paying attention, squatting in the passing lane, riding along side each other so no one can pass, and otherwise obstructing traffic. Indianapolis has more than it's fair share. I think I shocked some millennial clover when we got to the top of the interstate off ramp and she decided then was the time to finish texting. My horn interrupted her and after we turned, she shot me a look like I'm some impatient, aggressive driver. Perhaps things are different out here.
Other than the clovers and the huge traffic jam in Indianapolis, yesterday's ride went really well. I was expecting temperatures to drop to 35 degrees and stay there the whole way. Instead, I was blessed with a 40 degree ride most of the day. 5 degrees does matter. The temp only dropped below 40 when I was 34 miles from my destination. Once again I need to thank Mr. Gerbings for providing such wonderful riding gear. Riding in an electric riding suit is really awesome, and being behind the big fairing of the K1600GT really breaks the wind. I am certain that riders without a fairing on the front won't fair as well as the wind wicks away all the heat from the suit. When the weather gets really cold - below 30 - I put my rain gear on to further break the wind. I've ridden in my riding gear comfortably down to 11 degrees.
Late into my ride, I got the check oil warning again. I checked the oil and indeed, I needed to add some. This has been going on since my last valve adjustment. I needed more oil just before the last oil change and at the time, I was wondering if the shop didn't add enough after the valve adjustment, or if they did the adjustment wrong, or perhaps the head gasket is leaking. I did the oil change the last time and I'm sure I added the correct amount of oil. That removes human error from the equation. I will be doing my maintenance this time around with my friend Scot and we will look into this. Another valve adjustment is due. If we can't deal with the issue ourselves, I hope we can point the mechanic to the cause. So far, the bike is burning less than a quart per oil change.
I chose Merrillville not because of all the fun things to do; but, because it put me an hour out of Chicago, where rooms are likely to be cheaper and it gave me several options for getting into Chicago this morning. Right now, I'm waiting for the weather to get warmer so I only have to ride in rain and not the 'wintery mix' they're having here now.
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OK, welcome to Sunday. I found myself in an unusual situation. Usually, I'm up, dressed and back on the road in a matter of minutes; but, today, I had to wait out some weather. I even had to request a late checkout. The latest I could check out would be noon. By then, the temperature would be in the low 40's. If I could wait until 2, I would have mid 40's for temperature It was going to be windy and rainy for my 1 hour ride in to Chicago. There was going to be no avoiding it. Fortunately, it's only rain and wind and not thunderstorms with hail and tornadoes. I found a path in that didn't require payment of tolls. I hate tolls for several reasons; but, other than the obvious, they are dangerous places for motorcycles to be. It's easy to get rear ended by someone who isn't paying attention, motorists aren't paying attention when they change lanes to get the 'open' booth and, equally bad, the area inside the toll booth always has a slick of oil/condensate mix that will sure as hell put you on your back if you get your footing wrong. I always put the kickstand down when I'm in the toll booth rooting around for money. I digress.
Checkout time came and I had 3 and a half hours to go before I could check in. Initially, I planned to grab lunch in Merrillville and then head over to Chicago; but, when I left, it was cold; but, not really raining yet. I decided to move toward my destination and deal with the lag when I got there.
On the way over, I got a low pressure warning on my rear tire. It's probably because they are cold. I put air in it anyway. Next week, I have a new pair of Michellin Road Pilot 4's coming for both the front and rear. I'm running out of tread and need new sneakers!
I GoPro'd the Dan Ryan and Lake Shore Drive on the way over. Here it is - all of it in 5 minutes. Specifically featured are the Chicago skyline, the proper way to zipper merge, what to do when you find yourself in the wrong lane and a roller coaster feel.
I arrived at the B&B suggested to me by a friend Justin. He's stayed here before and said it's both comfortable and inexpensive. I think he was right. Here's a video of the place:
Now I'm here, my blog is caught up. I was looking for a restaurant to go to tonight; but, it's really ugly out there tonight. I may just find a place that will deliver and avoid going outside. I am expecting the owner to come over. I arrived to find that the toilet was dripping from the handle. I pulled the top just to see if it could be easily repaired; but, it can't. It will require a plumber. In the mean time, I'll have to turn the water off and on at the bottom. Eric, the owner, said he'd make sure the plumber came in tomorrow and would be here soon to check on it himself.
I'm hopeful that I can get off street parking. It seems like a really nice neighborhood; but, there are a lot more cars and traffic and people around than I'm used to seeing. I know Erick offers a garage at $30/night; but, I also noted a gated place in the back that would be just fine.
I spoke with Erick. He saw my bike sitting on the street and told me that he didn't want to see it there. He told me he drives a BMW 7 series. He said I could put it in his garage for $20/night. That's fine with me. Rusty, his business partner went to open up the garage for me. It's big enough for both my bike and his car. I don't plan on using it until I'm ready to leave, so chances are, it will stay right there and Rusty can still use the garage. I'm betting the guys won't even charge me the $20/night since they are still able to use their garage.
While I was talking to Rusty, I met Yankee - their Golden retriever mix. Yankee came right over to say hello, get some lovin' and then demand that I play fetch with him for a while. How awesome is that. Rusty invited me over to have dinner with them. I love B&B's. It's rainy and windy and generally crappy out. I really don't want to go looking for dinner.
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So, I had dinner with Rusty, Erick and Yankee. Spaghetti with meat sauce, garlic bread and salad. I ate more than I should. Great conversation with these guys. Rusty is an attorney and Erick is in real estate. They bought this place 11 years ago, remodeled it and have been in business for 10 years. Erick is originally from NY; but, you'd never know it. I can't pick up even a trace of accent. Rusty is from Ohio. Yankee is from Chicago. Yankee likes to play fetch and to be petted. Nothing else really matters. It was a good choice to stay here for the week.
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4/15/2016 - This trip continues. On this leg, I will go to my friend Scot's house, where he and I will do the 48,000 mile service on my bike (separate post). I decided to take the scenic route through Indiana and I'm really glad I did. For the majority of the trip, I didn't encounter any traffic lights. I stayed off the interstate also. A few times, I encountered a blinking red light; but, that was the only traffic signal.
I do have to comment about the way they work on the roads in Indiana...and Ohio. The just shut them down. This is really annoying; but, probably cost effective. The problem is that you encounter a road closed sign and have not idea how long the detour is going to last or where it's going to take you. If you're navigating by GPS, the GPS is constantly trying to route you back to where the detour started at, so that's useless. Since you don't know how long the detour is, you don't know if you should follow it, or bail and find your own alternate. This happened twice during this trip and both times, put me far behind my intended travel times.
Sorry, no pictures of this one; but, here's the map of this trip so far. The only comment I have about it was that I was pleasantly surprised that the trip out of Chicago on a Friday was surprisingly quick. I was leaving at 1pm; but, still; very light.
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My 48,000 mile service is complete. I had to extend my stay with Scot another day in order to get my iPhone fixed. I crashed the glass with my handlebars and I couldn't do anything with it. I couldn't even swipe it to get it to open. This is the second time in less than a month.
Scot, Marsha and Gracie were fantastic hosts. They not only accommodated me for what was supposed to be a maintenance weekend; but, they graciously had me stay for the weeks worth of delays. Scot caused me to gain 10 pounds. He's a hell of a cook. Gracie was so disturbed that I was leaving that she was biting my boots as I was walking out. She's a very sensitive creature and communicates very effectively.
So, the weather picture was such that I could ride between thunderstorms. Storms would be coming in to Beaver Creek by 12:45 - 1pm and would be leaving the Cleveland areas and points east by the time I would get there.
I opted for the scenic route and took rt. 42 from just east of Beaver Creek all the way up to Ashland Ohio before bailing out to an Interstate. I was getting into a lot of stop and go traffic, traffic lights, low speed limits and such. My suspicion was that it was only going to get worse the closer I got to Cleveland. I joined the Interstate for what must have been 3 hours - all the way to Conneaut before I was able to turn east on to rt. 6. 6 would take me all the way across the state. Ohio farmland is nothing like Indiana farmland. Indiana has much nicer manicured farms and farm houses...one after another. Ohio farmers seem to like dandelions...by the acre load.
The temperatures plummet rapidly as you approach the lake. I noted this with Lake Michigan as well. The cold air blowing down from the north, over the lake cools things down for miles. What started out as a 77 degree day in Dayton, ended up being a 42 degree day by the lake. The best it got while riding east, away from the lake was 50; but, that was only for a moment.
I stopped in Porter County PA. The sign when you enter on Rt. 6 says "Porter County - God's Country" The lady at the front desk of this inn says it's God's country because no one else will have it. She said there is nothing going on up here. Before the new governor took office, they would be fracking; but, now that is gone. She said most folks around here are elderly and and finishing out their lives where they grew up. There isn't much infrastructure here at all. Motels, food places and gas stations are all few and far in between. When I came across this inn in Couldersport, I decided it was better for me to take it than to risk not having a place to be for the night in rapidly dropping temperatures. Besides, it was after 8pm anyway. I was getting hungry and cold.
Speaking of cold, I'll give another plug for Gerbings gear. The thing about heated gear is that once you stop and turn off the bike, you get cold almost instantly. When you get cold, you go from chilled to frozen and shivering in a matter of minutes. That said, there is no doubt that it greatly extends the riding season and places people will go on their motorcycle. Go Gerbings!
------------ 4/28/2016
The morning brought temperatures that barely made the mercury rise. I had an easy 6 or 7 hour ride ahead of me, so I decided to wait for warmer temperatures; which the weatherman promised would happen in a few short hours. I grabbed breakfast at the restaurant a couple doors down and saw a couple of paramedics getting breakfast. The poor slobs got called away from their breakfast. I remember, and do not miss, those days. At around 10, I was able to leave. The temp was closing in on 50 degrees. I have to say that northwestern pa is pretty barren. There is very little in terms of infrastructure..practically none. The only industry up there seems to be fracking or maybe logging. It's pretty dreary. Until one gets as far east as Troy, there's basically nothing.
It just so happened that Dave, was working in Tunkanock and I got to see him for a few minutes. After that, it was a quick 2 hour ride to my father's house in Readington NJ.
-------------5/2/2016
The trip from NJ back to FLA to conclude this trip started today. The plan was to ride to Martinsburg WV, or Winchester, VA and then grab one of the US routes into the mountains and follow mountain roads down to Greensboro NJ. The forecast for the entire week looked pretty bleak, with rain every day. Things really aren't looking better further south either. There's a line of thunderstorms forming up over North Carolina and eastern Georgia. My best bet is to stay with I-81 to I-40 to I-75 to Chattanooga, Tn and then pick up US 27 down to Columbus Ga. That is 765 miles and google maps says it will take 12 hours. That's without traffic, construction and without delays for people driving poorly in the rain. Generally, I allow 10 percent for additional travel time. I'm betting that tomorrow it will be longer - if I get there at all.
--------------5/3/2016
I'm in Atlanta. I decided to stay with Interstate and not do US 27. Thunderstorms prevailed in southern Georgia and I was concerned that they might start cropping up in more northern parts of the state, preventing me from getting down south more. I got a high temperature warning on the Atlanta byway. That stopped me for the night since the byway was jammed for miles and it would be all stop and go. I got to a Quality Inn off the byway and will leave first thing tomorrow morning. The stop and go traffic was during 85 degree OAT. It looks like I'm between the lines on the coolant, so it's possible that the water pump died. I will find out in the morning. My preference is to make it home and deal with the issue there. Everything was fine today - 11 hours of riding, including a traffic jam in Chattanooga. I burped the cooling system again and will do it once more in the morning. It appears that I have enough coolant in the reservoir, so I should be OK. I'm thinking that the cooler temperatures in the morning and less traffic should be enough to get me home. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like I'll be able to avoid the thunderstorms for my arrival. :-(
-------------5/4/2016
The morning started early, as planned. The idea was to get out of Atlanta before the heat and traffic started. It was 56 degrees in the morning, so as long as I wasn't stuck in traffic, I should be good to go. I wasn't more than 2 or 3 miles from the hotel when I saw the flashing warning triangle with an exclamation point in it and the headlight symbol with a zero. See additional post about this.
This would be the storm that awaited my arrival into Florida. The forecast says that this would continue throughout the day. The good news is that there were no reports of flooding or hail. As predicted, the storm came with a ton of rain. My rain gear sort of failed. Actually, I failed. I need to ear suspenders to keep my pants up high and make sure my jacket comes down over the pants. I didn't do that and ended up with lots of water in my pants. It was cool; but, not cold and I didn't care. I care about cold rain. I don't care about rain when it's warm out.
Getting home, I was greeted with living fish and weeds...plenty of them. The only grass I have is the sod I put in last year. The whole front happens to be weeds. I'll be working on this for a while.
I also managed to get the front right Tupperware lid off and check the coolant. It was empty. I think my water pump is probably OK and I just need more coolant. I have not run diagnostics on the electrical problems yet.
Here are the maps:
This is my first offering of motorcycle art - a new art form where one uses a 750 pound motorcycle as their paint brush. I think this looks like a dolphin; but, friends say everything from breeching whale to eagle to other things. I call it Failla #1.
My updated trips to date. I should note that the file of coordinates that produces this map is 715704 lat/lon coordinates or 14MB in size. I have written some tools in python to help with mapping.
One tool uniques a list of coordinates. This is useful because each device has a certain precision. Some will give you 5 digits after the decimal and some 7 or 8. Some will pad with zeros, some will not. Accordingly 123.4567 and 123.456700 are not seen as the same number. This produces about 10% more coordinates in the file than there needs to be.
I wrote a second tool that will amplify the data set by looking up each lat/lon coordinate and returning the street, city, county, state, country and zip code for each. The issue there is that the lookup will only allow 2500 lookups per day. At that rate, it would take me 283 days to look all of them up. I'm thinking of other approaches. This information would be useful if, for example, I wanted to make sure I rode all the roads in a certain county or zip code.
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