After a good night’s sleep, I was ready for an easy — albeit full day’s — ride down to Superior, AZ for Red’s MIAZ gathering. I had know idea that the day would become something of an endurance test. Continue reading The winds from hell
Category Archives: Road Tales
In a fast-paced world where most long journeys are viewed from 20,000+ feet in a jet airliner, we miss out on the detail afforded by the low viewing angle of a motorcycle saddle. In this category I have stored a collection of interesting experiences gleaned from years of motorcycle touring. Each tale may describe a multi-week trip, a single day, or one sublime instant. Some tales even have photographic evidence. While I post these tales largely for my own amusement, I have been told they have inspired some to try motorcycle touring. If so, then that seems like a useful purpose. May they help you realize that the universe still holds many thoughts to consider, humor to be enjoyed, and wonders to behold.
Texas waffle
The following is my breakfast waffle from the Super8 in Amarillo, Texas. Apparently Texans are proud of their waffles too. 🙂
Making up lost time
The last time I went down to Red’s MIAZ (Meet In Arizona) gathering, I got nearly all the way to St. Louis, Missouri on the first evening’s ride. This time, as noted in my previous post, I only got to Springfield, Illinois, which meant that I would need to make up the lost hour the next day. That would be a challenge since this day was to be 800+ miles anyway.
Yeesh.
The good news is that there wasn’t a drop of rain in the forecast. The bad news is that there was a steady strong wind coming from the west and I would be doing battle with it all day.
Continue reading Making up lost time
Planned for rain but got frozen instead
Nothing really went as planned for this first day out.
I wanted to get out of work around 3pm to I could be well on the road by 5pm. That would put me in good position to beat the advancing line of thunderstorms that was coming up from Indiana. It would also afford me the best chance to get down towards St. Louis, MO before I turned into a pumpkin.
Continue reading Planned for rain but got frozen instead
Pick your poison (weather)
I’m leaving for Arizona this evening after work and my goal is to get to somewhere around St. Louis, Missouri before getting some sleep. Unfortunately, there’s plenty of nasty weather forecasted along the way.
As it happens, I can get to St. Louis by way of either Chicago or Indianapolis. (There’s only a only a nine mile difference between these routes.) So my quandary is: which route to take?
Here’s the latest radar from the Weather Channel.
Hmm… what to do?
Ghost home from the Par-Tay
The following is my rework of an email message I posted to the slug list after arriving home from the annual Par-Tay up in the Pacific northwest. Continue reading Ghost home from the Par-Tay
Progress home (so far)
The following is a post to the slug list on my way home from the annual Par-Tay in the Pacific northwest. Continue reading Progress home (so far)
Ghost & Mary’s Accident
Note:
The following was the letter I posted to the Harley Digest and the rec.motorcycles.harley newsgroup shortly after the April 2001 wreck on the Cruiser.
The Whole Sordid Story…
As many of you heard, Mary and I were involved in an accident back on April 22nd. The dust is finally settling, so I now have time to make my public confessions and pay tribute to those who stepped forward to help during the crisis.
Continue reading Ghost & Mary’s Accident
Memphis Cruise: Map, Stats, and Photos
Map
Here is the map for the Memphis Cruise. Click on the routes on the map to navigate to the trip report for that day.
Retrospective Note (2016): Back in 1997, Apple Maps and Google Maps didn’t exist yet. Consequently, the map is tiny and based on a screen shot of a MapQuest map.
Posts
- Memphis Cruise Preview
- Memphis Cruise Day 1
- Memphis Cruise Day 2
- Memphis Cruise Day 3
- Memphis Cruise Day 4
- Memphis Cruise Day 5
- Memphis Cruise Day 6
Statistics
Total number of days: 6
Total miles: 1,807
Shortest Day: 62.9 miles (Day 4Â – Around Memphis)
Longest Day: 400 miles (Day 6Â – Corydon, IN to Ann Arbor, MI)
Average Miles/Day: 301.2/day
Number of States/Provinces visited: 5 (MI, OH, KY, TN, IN)
Average Miles per Gallon: 43.12
Photos
Vanity shot of Ghost and the Cruiser ready to take off for Memphis, TN. Michelle took the photo.
Blatently Poser-fied vanity shot of Ghost and the Cruiser ready to take off for Memphis, TN. Michelle took the photo.
A crappy photo of the bridge at Aberdeen. That’s Maysville, KY on the other side of the river. A railroad freight mainline runs on the other side of the river, so I had company all night. This photo sucks because I used a disposable camera. After the film was developed, I dropped the photos (and my Newton 120 PDA) off the Bike on I-96 east of Grand Rapids, MI. Several cars/trucks ran over the photos (and my Newton) before I could retrieve them. Instead of scanning the negatives to a Photo-CD, I scanned the abused photos on a flatbed scanner at a local Kinkos Copies. Again, this is why this photo sucks.
I move back to catch the Cruiser in a shot. Note that this was before I did the wake-up call on the Cruiser, so it still had the stock mufflers.
This shot is of one of the resevoirs in the Burgess Falls State Natural Area. The road I was on would eventually cross this lake at the bridge in the distance.
The Pyramid is where I saw the exhibit of Titanic aritifacts. This photo sucks because I used a disposable camera. After the film was developed, I dropped the photos (and my Newton 120 PDA) off the bike on I-96 east of Grand Rapids, MI. Several cars/trucks ran over the photos (and my Newton) before I could retrieve them. Instead of scanning the negatives to a Photo-CD, I scanned the abused photos on a flatbed scanner at a local Kinkos Copies. Again, this is why this photo sucks.
A shot of the I-40 bridge crossing the Mississippi River. This photo sucks because I used a disposable camera. After the film was developed, I dropped the photos (and my Newton 120 PDA) off the bike on I-96 east of Grand Rapids, MI. Several cars/trucks ran over the photos (and my Newton) before I could retrieve them. Instead of scanning the negatives to a Photo-CD, I scanned the abused photos on a flatbed scanner at a local Kinkos Copies. Again, this is why this photo sucks.
Commerce is alive and well on the river. This photo sucks because I used a disposable camera. After the film was developed, I dropped the photos (and my Newton 120 PDA) off the bike on I-96 east of Grand Rapids, MI. Several cars/trucks ran over the photos (and my Newton) before I could retrieve them. Instead of scanning the negatives to a Photo-CD, I scanned the abused photos on a flatbed scanner at a local Kinkos Copies. Again, this is why this photo sucks.
Early in the afternoon, I took a drive past Graceland, home of the rock-&-roll God Elvis Presley. The mansion looked like, well, a mansion. If it weren’t for all the supporting fixtures of tourist exploitation across the street, you’d assume that this spread belonged to Mary Tyler Moore’s plastic surgeon (or some other rich and mundane individual). I turned around, and snapped a single picture as I drove back downtown. Not bad for 20+ MPH on a motorcycle in heavy traffic! This photo sucks because I used a disposable camera. After the film was developed, I dropped the photos (and my Newton 120 PDA) off the bike on I-96 east of Grand Rapids, MI. Several cars/trucks ran over the photos (and my Newton) before I could retrieve them. Instead of scanning the negatives to a Photo-CD, I scanned the abused photos on a flatbed scanner at a local Kinkos Copies. Again, this is why this photo sucks.
Memphis Cruise Day 6
Route: Corydon, IN to Ann Arbor, MI Continue reading Memphis Cruise Day 6