| Author | Message | ||
     Pwnzor |
What Greg said. | ||
| Crusty |
Take 64 through Taos. Then stay on it, it's a beautiful ride. Too late. I took US 160 from Alamosa to Dodge City, Kansas. Quite an interesting ride. | ||
| Crusty |
Who Could Imagine… I’m sitting in Dodge City. I have a tentative route planned out for tomorrow. For some reason, I just don’t feel like camping. That’s unusual for me, but I’m just going with it for this trip. At least I’m using cheaper motels. When I total up the expenses for this trip, I won’t be real happy, but I’ll be happier than if I was spending more. One other thing I’m doing is not eating expensively. That also helps to minimize the damage. I left the Narrow Gauge Railroad Inn this morning and headed up to Alamosa. I stopped and took a couple of pictures of the steam locomotives of the narrow gauge railroad. The engineers and other crew were checking out the Roadster while I was trying to get a good angle without the sun ruining the shot. Then I rode up and got on Rt. 160. Basically, I took it all the way here. That sounds pretty simple and that’s how I thought it would be, but it certainly wasn’t boring. Mountains, valleys, arroyos, buttes and canyons make for interesting rides. A word of warning; if you are traveling east on US Rt. 160 from Trinidad, Colorado, make sure you have a full tank of gas. In the first 100 miles, there were no towns and almost no traffic. I counted a grand total of two semis, four pickups and two cars going the other way. I got lucky in the town of Kim and talked to an old guy who directed me to an automated gas pump. It was a few blocks from the main highway and if I hadn’t asked, I never would have found it. I’ve traveled US Rt. 50 across Utah and Nevada and it’s known as the loneliest highway in America. Rt. 160 through eastern Colorado could give it a serious run for that title. I saw an occasional ranch name over a dirt road leading off into the distance, but no people and very few buildings; and most of those were abandoned. While riding, I’m constantly looking all around; both to scope out the area and also to pick up on telltale signs of potential danger. Sometimes, I see some very unusual things. In the past two days, I saw a group of vultures; they had black bodies and red heads and necks and there were at least six of them, all on the ground. I saw an eagle. It wasn’t a bald eagle, but is sure was unmistakable. It flew over my head at about 20 feet up, and its wingspan had to be five or six feet. Today I saw a group of elk in the prairie just off the highway, then, a short while later there were a series of hawks. Each one was standing on the top of a utility pole and they were obviously looking for prey. After that, I saw a small herd of buffalo; maybe a dozen or so. The most striking thing I saw was near the town of Montezuma, Kansas there was an enormous wind farm. I counted over 250 mills on one side of the road, and there were easily that many on the other side. I wonder how much it costs to erect and maintain that many windmills? Anyhow, when I set out this morning, the temperature was 54* F. it eventually warmed up to around 80. There were a number of clouds in the mountains, but as I got further east, they all disappeared. Tomorrow, I’ll be switching my route a bit. I’m planning to ride as far as Springfield, Missouri. Google says it a little over 7 hours travel time. That sounds like a nice day’s worth of travel. I wonder what the new day will bring? | ||
| Court |
Love it. I drove 2,850 miles last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday . . . and love that sort of thing. !,425, with a total of 58 stopped minutes, from NYC to Kansas City and the same back with 2 hours a12 minutes of stops. Same drill next week to Maine to climb vertical faces for one day and jet back. I'm loving your travelog and you're kindling lots of great memories from when I ushered the first Buell ever to many of those places. My motel room in Dodge City had a bullet hole in the door. While you're there . . . .might as well slip over to Greensburg and check out the deepest hand dug well. | ||
| Crusty |
Back In Emporia Today wasn’t really a bad day, but it wasn’t one of my better days, either. Last night, I caught the local weather forecast on the idiot box. They said that it would be cloudy and windy, but no rain. They were wrong. Court, over on Badweb, had posted that I should check out the world’s deepest hand dug well in Greensburg, KS. As it was right on my intended route, it seemed like a good thing to do, so I planned to stop there. But it was raining as I left the motel, and it seemed that every time I outran the front, something would happen and the front caught back up. The forecasters may have been wrong about the rain, but they were right about the wind. The gusts were strong and it took a bit of concentration to keep the bike on the road. I noticed at one point that I was looking over the right hand corner of the windshield as I was rolling along at 65 MPH. To go straight, I had to lean the bike to the left. So I didn’t stop and see the well. Eventually, I got ahead of the front. The wind died down and the sun came out and the temperature went up about fifteen degrees. I rode in nice weather for a while, then decided that I’d stop and take off the rain pants. Since I was stopped at a Taco Hell, I figured I’d empty my bladder and have an early lunch. Oops. The rain caught back up within 15 minutes. When I went back out to the bike, the temperature had fallen and the wind was back. I got back out on the road, and about 20 minutes later, the meal I’d eaten at that Taco Hell decided that it didn’t like me and it was going to leave. I just happened to pass by a Mickey D’s, so I made a U-turn and bolted to the Men’s Room. Got back on the road for a little while, then had to get gas. When I checked the oil, I was down a quart, so I hit yet another Golden Starches and found the nearest Harley dealer. Also, I was tired and frustrated with how the day had gone. I was making really crappy time with all the stops and all the slow moving vehicles that were holding up traffic. Plus, I had ridden through a few miles of road construction in Wichita, and I’d had enough. I looked at the map on Google and decided that since I had to backtrack through all the PITA construction to get to the dealership to get a quart of Syn 3, I’d change my plans. I was only an hour and a half from the Motel 6 I’d stayed at on my way west, so I pointed the bike north and east. I took I-135 to US 50 and rode that to Emporia. Now I’m sitting in my room in the motel 6 and thinking about tomorrow’s ride. I think that I might just jump on the Interstate and push for home. Then again, maybe my attitude will change and I’ll stay on US and State routes. Today, once the front moved through, the temps never reached the projected highs. Tomorrow’s supposed to be cooler than today, so I might just want to beat it to Cheviot. I’m leaning that way right now, but I might feel differently once I’ve had a good night’s sleep. We’ll see. } | ||
| Tootal |
Door is always open John. It will only cost you time and maybe we can check out the BBQ place that you said supports a flat tracker. | ||
| Crusty |
A Little History My dad met my mom when he was in the Navy. He was from North Carolina and she was from just outside Boston. They married and settled in Waltham, Massachusetts. However, Dad had strong ties with his family and every so often, we’d all pile into the family car and drive almost non-stop from Waltham to Fayetteville. At other times, my uncles would drive up to Massachusetts. The question always asked was, “How long did it take?” I remember one time when my uncle John had to sit at the toll gate of the New Jersey Turnpike because he’d arrived over 20 minutes quicker than the speed limit allowed. The State Trooper told him that he could sit there or he could sit in a cell until morning, then see the Judge. John sat at the toll gate. Anyway, that was the atmosphere I grew up with when it came to traveling. Get there as fast as possible. In 1973, I bought a Moto Guzzi V7 Sport. Previously, all my bikes had been used British bikes of questionable reliability. When I got the Guzzi, my eyes were opened to both speed and reliability. Guzzis were known as reliable touring bikes, Now, I could go places on a motorcycle that were previously unavailable. July 4th was on a Wednesday, that year. I had just been laid off (I was an apprentice Operating Engineer) and I figured that nobody would be hiring until the next week, so I decided to go visit Ron in Lafayette, Louisiana. I knew it was a ways off, but I didn’t know just how far it was. So, on Thursday morning, I set out to see Ron for a day or two. 22 hours later, I pulled into Ron’s Driveway. I’d ridden 1203 miles and was a burned out wreck. Ron was working a Swing shift, so we hung out for a few hours, then he went to work and I got some sleep. The next morning (Saturday) we got up, I dumped the oil from the Guzzi and put in fresh oil, then set out for Colorado. 22 hours of hell later, I pulled into my driveway. I was a totally burned out hulk, but I made it. I had proven that I was a Jackson and could take my place with the other members of the family. I loved to do straight runs like that. For years, I’d periodically travel some long distance straight through. It didn’t matter if it was on a bike or in a car. Chuck’s house in Louisville to Colorado Springs was 1100 miles. Did that. Colorado Springs to Daytona Bike Week (with a stopover in Louisville) sure. Leominster, Massachusetts to Springfield, Illinois. Yup. Flint, Michigan to Leominster; had to. And, of course, Fayetteville, NC to Medford, Mass. And, more recently, Cincinnati to Hudson, Mass. There were other hard rides, but those are just some off the top of my head. However, I knew I was missing a lot by traveling in this manner. So, when I hit the road in 2015, I vowed to stay on secondary roads, keep the speed down and See America. It wasn’t easy, but it worked. Once I was able to slow down and look around me, I really started seeing this country in ways I’d never experienced. I rode to Colorado that way on this trip. I really enjoyed the ride out to Montrose. I was really enjoying the ride home until Tuesday’s weather turned a great ride into something less than. By the time I put up on Tuesday night, my attitude was far from positive. Yesterday morning, when I woke up, the temperature was 46 degrees (F). I’ve ridden in colder temps many times, but I really wasn’t in the mood to enjoy the colder weather. When I looked at the map, I saw it was only 769 miles from the Motel 6 to home. I was egged on by the facts that Court, on Badweb had just done a hard drive from New York to Kansas and back and I was looking at Parrothead’s Iron Butt Sportster build on the XL Forum. My old habit came back like a boomerang. I left Emporia, Kansas and was home in Cheviot, Ohio less than 13 hours later. I didn’t set any speed records, and it took longer than I expected, but I did it. I didn’t cross three States in a couple of miles, and I didn’t see the statue of Nicky Hayden, like I was planning. I jumped on the Interstate and aimed for home. I guess I’ll just have to do those on some other trip. This morning, I’m just happy to be home. (Message edited by Crusty on September 27, 2018) (Message edited by Crusty on September 27, 2018) | ||
| Court |
To keep things in perspective . . . . I did my 2 1,340 miles days in a car. I've hit 44 states on Buells and on 2 occasions have help a 100mph on the clock for nearly a solid hour. But . . . I also learned a lot (and I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Fran Crane) about covering long distances. I used to be teased, while at Buell, about leaving the factory to go get lunch . . . sometimes 7 states away. On a motorcycle the key to covering distance . . . and I'd welcome John's opinion here, is not speed . . but NOT STOPPING. When all the boy talk about how fast folks go withers . . . it's tough to maintain a 60mph average for an entire day and . . . . again, my PERSONAL opinion . . . anything over 80mph is a waste. Once you get to 80mph (in most states) you are in a new strata of speeding . . . the stress resulting from the elevated vigilance for law enforcement, photo speed traps and aerial speed monitoring adds too much fatigue. I recall, years ago, watching to determine if any approaching car was a Crown Victoria and preparing to slam on the brakes . . . fully aware that by the time I braked, it was too late. I did more than my fair share of hyper-runs from 5.0 Liter Mustangs banging through the median to come after me. Anytime you gained in the previous hour is going to be lost while you hide behind a building for an hour. The ONLY way to evade a chase is to break visual, get off the road and hide. In addition, that decision has to be immediate or it won't work and things get uglier. Time, tide and miles taught me that setting the cruise on 80mph and having, and practicing, a fuel stop routine was the way to go. I had it down to under 5 minutes to stop, fuel, pee, water, CHECK AEROSTICH ZIPPERS and go. I'm getting a bit of a bug to do another bike trip . . . fully cognizant that my skills are well eroded. I am heading up to Maine to do an assault on a vertical rock face . . . it will be a drive all night, climb all day, drive all night event . . . and a bike may be interesting. But . . not with the headlights the Ulysses currently has. Good work John and thanks for rekindling some great memories. Court | ||
| Tootal |
Good to hear you're home safe John. I know how you felt. Once you get into a zone it's hard to stop. Once I left Grand Junction Colorado and was heading East. I got to Hays Kansas and pulled into a McDonald's and called my friend in Overland Park Kansas. It was 6:00 and I was hungry and figured a Big Mac and a motel were in order. I was just going to let my friend know I'd be there tomorrow afternoon. He say's, "why don't you ride on in?" Well I've been riding all day and it would be midnight before I got there. He just said that he'd be up. So I had my Big Mac and jumped back on the bike. Now this friend has a brain for numbers. Never EVER play Black Jack with him! In his head he figured the miles I was riding and my average speed and walked out on his front porch at 11:15 holding a cold Bitburger beer. At 11:20 I pulled up in the driveway! The beer was still quite cold. | ||
| Ourdee |
John, You can ride slow to Two's. | ||
| Crusty |
For the first time in my life, I've seen an Okra plant!   | ||
| 86129squids |
That's an odd looking species, based on those leaves. Does look like some pods are working though...  | ||
| Crusty |
Coming into Canyon City  | ||
| Crusty |
Blue Mesa Reservoir   Just another shot of Colorado  | ||
| Crusty |
Houston Joe and his Burgman with me and the Roadster  | ||
| Crusty |
Red Mountain Pass AKA The Million Dollar Highway        | ||
| Crusty |
The Narrow Gauge Railroad in Antonito, CO    (Message edited by Crusty on September 27, 2018) | ||
| Tootal |
Looks like fun John! There is also a narrow gauge from Durango to Silverton that's a wonderful trip. Next time... | ||
| Pwnzor |
Your tales of marathon rides remind me of my younger days, when I would ride from San Diego, CA to Bellingham, WA and back... Leave CA on Friday afternoon and arrive in WA mid day on Saturday. Rest up for a bit, do some counting, stuff my saddle bags and tank bag, then leave WA on Saturday night, and arrive back to CA on Sunday afternoon. On a 1986 Yamaha FZ600, then later on a 1988 Kawasaki Ninja 600R - then switched to a cruiser for a couple of years, Honda CB900C, then to the 2004 XB12R. I never even heard of an "Iron Butt Rally" until around 2006 when I no longer made these runs. | ||
| H0gwash |
Thanks for the stories and pics, especially the okra flower. | ||
| Pwnzor |
Yeah, the okra flower was a new one for me... I grew artichokes once... there's a very alien-looking plant for sure. A member of the thistle family. | ||
| Crusty |
Some Days Some days, it’s hard to write anything worthwhile. I tried to write a Snippet yesterday, and it came out sounding like I was whining, so I scrapped it. However, today I think I might just whine or bitch or just put it into words. I get a lot of things running through my head while traveling. I spent a while on this last trip thinking about Gas Prices. I’ve been hearing about how the USA is now one of the leading oil suppliers for the world; so why are gas prices going up? It seems to me that the law of supply and demand would have the price of gas coming down when there’s more of it available, but the reverse is what’s happening. And while I’m talking about gas prices, why is the price of Premium so variable? In some places, it’s $.30/gal. more than Regular, but in other places it can be as much as $.70 more. Is somebody gouging? If so, (and I suspect that’s true), is it the stations, the distributer or the supplier? The Roadster gives me 45 MPG (roughly), so it isn’t a huge difference in the cost of a fill up, but it still bugs me. While I’m on a gas kick, I wonder if there’s much difference between regular and premium. In 2015, when I was tramping, I started using Regular and the bike ran fine until I got one tankful that had the engine knocking when I gave it too much throttle. So I went back to using Premium. On this trip, I had to get gas in the booming Metropolis of Kim, Colorado. All that was available was regular, so I put two gallons in the bike, knowing that would get me to a station that carried Premium. The bike ran fine on the regular, which makes me wonder if maybe the oil companies are making a lot of premium and putting it in both the regular tanks and the premium tanks at the gas stations. If so, and they’re charging less for “Regular” and still making a profit, then who’s zooming who? I have to go out, I’ll write more later. | ||
| Ourdee |
I filled up with regular in West Virginia. Ran Lil Red hard on that fuel without a knock. I am working on how to carry some BLENDZALL Power Booster Octane Additive 490 for the next time. Just in case it does start knocking. On long trips I bury 2 quarts of premium in a pair of MSR bottles deep in my luggage. I've always hoped it would pull me out of trouble in one of those situations. For the run to Twos I'm planning on putting 2 gallons of fuel on top of my rear case. I need the 2 extra gallons to stretch 200 miles between gas stations. I haven't got an aluminum auxiliary tank set up yet. I'd only use it 2 or 3 times a year as I run now. I could use 2 one gallon MSR bottles if they made them. I know 200 miles is a long sit on an Scg with a low seat and old knees. Why did I sell the XT? So, Crusty, Looks like Mathew is taking care of your firewood and tent parking. "Crusty - as previously mentioned - your camping and firewood are on me. Just get yourself here and bring some lunch money." I'll buy you a rack of ribs at Jim's, but I won't transport them to Cincinnati. Yea, a couple of sides and soda pop too. | ||
| Crusty |
Some Days, Part 2 One nice thing that I noticed on my trip was that once I got to Kansas and Colorado, the political ads turned from “Don’t vote for Farfel; he’s a crooked scoundrel” to “Vote for Rancid; it’s time for a change”. It seems that nobody in Ohio is saying, “vote for me”; they’re all saying that their opponent is some sort of criminal. While that may be true of nearly all politicians (they’re all being crooked scoundrels), I really would prefer a bit of dignity in their ads. Tell me where you stand on specific issues. Yeah; I know that I’m a bit of an unrealistic dreamer, but I found the political ads out west considerably more dignified. Next Spring, I hope to buy my new Roadster. No matter how well behaved my bike is and no matter if it’s running flawlessly, I can’t get over the fact that the original engine let go while running down the road. I didn’t beat on it, but it died an early death. The fact that there was a run of supposedly incompletely heat treated cranks at the time my engine was manufactured is locked in my head. Since the engine that’s in the bike now is also from a 2005 Sportster, I just can’t put the trust into it that I should. I’ve heard that the newer engines have the life expectancy I think the Sportster engine is capable of from sources I consider reliable. Also, the brakes seemed better on the Demo bike I rode in Daytona, The suspension definitely was a lot better and the fuel injection worked flawlessly. These are all good things. I will have to put a bigger gas tank on it, as well as a more comfortable seat. A front fender from an XR 1200 with a fenda extenda, the same bend handlebars as what I’m presently using and a more effective rear fender. It won’t be cheap to make the changes I want, but it’ll be worth it. People seem to think that Sportsters aren’t capable Sport-Tourers. I (and a few other people; mostly on the XL forum) know otherwise. The Sportster is one of the great designs. It’s the most easily modifiable bike to turn into the type of bike you want. It’s durable and easily maintained. It gets reasonable gas mileage. And it flat feels better to ride than any other new bike out there. At least, for me. | ||
| Court |
Here John . . . maybe this will make you feel better . . . . I fill an F-250HD Super Duty and a 3.6L Outback each week . . . .and I average about 1,200 miles a week at work . . . call 30% of that off-road.  | ||
| Crusty |
Good Lord; gas is expensive up there! | ||
| Akbuell |
Amazing what state and local taxes can do to the price of gas. In this case, about $2.00/gal compared to here in NC. Even less expensive 40 miles away in Tenn . . . (Message edited by Akbuell on October 01, 2018) | ||
| 86129squids |
I filled up at Kroger with a 10 cent discount for $2.53/gal. the other day. Yeesh!! | ||
| Crusty |
My friend Melia and her grand daughter, Kala are visiting from Australia for a couple of days. So, tonight, I took them to Woot's BBQ for dinner. As a veteran BBQ cook off judge will attest, Woot's has Blue Ribbon quality ribs. And their beans are pretty flippin' good, too. Both Melia and Kala loved it! Tomorrow, they get the Tour of Cincinnati. Jungle Jim's, Skyline Chili for lunch, the Mushroom House, the Space ship house, Eaton Park and more! David (my brother) is a great tour guide. (Message edited by Crusty on October 02, 2018) | ||
| Zac4mac |
Hooray for you, John. Enjoy their company, I know you've missed them. Keep the snippets coming! Z |
