A few weekends ago, I took a somewhat impromptu road trip. Below are the highlights of that trip extracted from my web blog I wrote when I got back. I'll apologize up front for the length, but it seemed worth it. I'm sure there will be ample 'constructive suggestions' for future use, and I'm looking forward to them. - Mike
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Monday, July 16th -
I'd tell you my butt is sore, but I can already hear the jokes... (Hey! Your butt would be sore too if you'd just ridden 960 miles from Chicago to Erie, PA and back in 50 hours!)
A long time acquaintance passed away recently, and I felt rather compelled to pay my respects. However, he lived (and died) in Erie, PA. And seeing that I a) don't own a car, and b) didn't manage to get that cross country motorcycle ride I'd been planning before I found that grad school started the day after graduation..., I figured this was about as close as I was likely to get to one until next summer (or perhaps even the next after that). So, on Thursday I give the bike an oil change and fresh plugs. Then, I set off on Friday evening after work towards the East.
Having not owned a vehicle of any kind for a few years, and rapidly waxing psychotic for being city-bound, I purchased my motorcycle ('83 XV920K) two summers ago. Two weeks later, I rode it through the remnants of Hurricane Dennis (literally), to go visit a family member who had just been diagnosed with terminal cancer (which was apparently accurate, since he passed away only three weeks after I visited him, [on my birthday, no less].) Since then, it has served me faithfully on trips of relatively little challenge. I've not had the opportunity to really take the bike out and test its mettle, until now.
So let's see --
Adventure 1:
Mishawauka, IN - Friday night, 12:30am
A Con-Way.com tandem tractor decides to tailgate me for better than three miles. Close enough to see its headlights, but not its bumper. At 70 mph.
Ahem.
Update: Con-Way seemed very interested in my tale of woe this morning (given that insurance for OTR systems is comparable to medical malpractice insurance). I was told I'd be contacted by the safety director for this region later today. Hmm... Yeah, right.
Updated Update: Never heard boo. Big surprise.
Adventure 2:
Maumee, OH
I rolled into Maumee, OH (south side of Toledo) at about 4am local (time zone change). Take a room for the (remainder of) night.
Saturday morning, I get up and begin to get dressed to resume my ride east. I surprisingly find that the only pair of jeans that I brought with me (the ones I'd been wearing on the bike) decided at some point between getting the room and getting into the room, to become a pair of chaps! I figure this must have happened when I got off the bike for the night, becuase at the speeds I was riding at, at 4am in the morning, I'd have KNOWN if I'd had a gaping hole from halfway down my zipper to halfway to my knee!
Anyway, I throw on a pair of shorts, and my new 'chaps' over that, and set off (on the bike, of course) to find a Walmart or Meijer or someplace to get another pair of jeans. [Imagine me walking into one of those places, and up to the 'greeter' asking, 'Hey sweety! You got anything for this?' (pointing at my gaping whatever...).
Not.
After about 30 minutes of following the directions I got from the hotel manager, I found the Meijer that was two minutes away from the hotel. :: sigh :: Got two pair of jeans (in case the second pair got the idea that being chaps was a fun idea), back to the hotel, changed and set off again for Erie, PA. It's 11am, I have 5 hours if road ahead of me, and services are at 1pm. You do the math.
Adventure 3:
Erie, PA
Get to Erie, 3 hours late (math is oddly consistant like that). Got directions to the plot from the funeral home, and directions to the reception. While the cemetery was absolutely gorgeous, I was not able to find my friend's plot anywhere. Apparently, this cemetery resods after a burial, and of course, three days isn't time to get a stone erected. So I paid my respects from the curb, in the general direction of where he was supposed to have been laid to rest, and headed off to the reception. In the rain... (Stay tuned).
Adventure 4:
Still in Erie, PA
After a brief respite at the reception (about an hour), I set off again to return home. In the rain. Bike seems to be doing just fine, as always.
I managed to get out of PA and back into Ohio, and stopped for gas when the rain let up. I thought, "Ok, let's make a dash for it!".
Now, this is the southern shore of what for all intents and purposes, is, an inland sea (Lake Erie). With all due respects to Gordon Lightfoot, the last thing I want going through my mind while dealing with a storm coming onshore is the lyrics from the "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" while riding my iron pony. Nevertheless, after passing through several bands of torrential rains, the weather abated, and I made it to the south side of Cleveland, OH, just in time for both nightfall and more rain. So, I took a room for the night.
Note to self: When the hell did Red Roof Inns get to be $100/night in Asswipe, OH?
Adventure 4.5:
Elyria, OH
After taking my bag off the bike and up to the room, I rode a block or two away for a quick dinner, in hopes of getting in and back before the rain actually resumed. When I came out of the restaurant, it was indeed drizzling. So I mopped off the saddle and got on, and started it up. What I got was the most annoying backfiring and puttering and spitting (which I referred to as 'bitching, pissing, moaning and groaning'). I barely managed to get back the two blocks to the hotel and covered it up for the night. I figured I'd just gotten some water in the gas I'd just filled up with, and I'd treat the tank in the morning. Time for sleep.
Adventure 5:
Ohio Turnpike / Indiana Toll Road
Up and out at 11am, after a decent night's sleep. Get back on the bike, and back to the gas station, treat the tank, a quick breakfast at the local Bob Evans, and head off to the highway. Only to find that I can't keep 65mph to save my life (a scarey thought, given where I found myself - the Ohio Turnpike). At least it wasn't raining, and it was daylight.
So - I get about 50 miles or so down the road (yeah, I hear ya but after all, its a turnpike) with the bike screaming all the way (no, literally, screaming. I couldn't hear myself think.) Once I stopped for gas and summarily discovered that I was getting 20MPG instead of my usual 35+, I decided to do a little diagnostic work on the bike. It would run, but poorly. So, start the bike, pull the front plug wire off, bike keeps running. Put the wire back, and pull the rear, poof. Bike dies. Pull the front plug, fouled beyond belief! (and these were the NEW plugs installed on Thursday evening.)
Fortunately, I keep a spare plug on the bike for just such an emergency. Pop it in, and voile! I'm back on the road. 60 miles further, the bike starts acting up again. Stopped for fuel, checked the plug, and it looked the same as the one I'd just taken out. Christ!
Well, after a bit of roadside ingenuity, I managed to 'clean' up the 'spare plug' and put it back, and managed to get the bike running again. Went through this two more times before getting back to Chicago tonight.
Home again, Home again, Jiggity Jig -
Chicago, IL
960 miles in 50 hours. Lots of lessons to absorb, and some repair work to be done. And of course, my throttle hand will be buzzing for a week, I'm sure.
Update: 8/7/07 - 3 weeks, still buzzin'.
-- Mike Schneider
'83 XV920K (w/KJS kit)
Chicago, IL
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