Rocking chairs, BBQ and Spyders!

     We rolled along the highway until we saw a sign that said World's Largest Rocking Chair!  Now, how could you pass that up!  We arrived and got our picture taken beneath the behemoth!  We then went inside the little souvenier shop and picked up a few items for family and friends.  It was quite humorous when the little lady running the store asked if we wanted a sample of moonshine!  It was Smoky Mountain Moonshine which is made not too far from where I live!  I passed and instead tried a Route 66 Orange Soda.  This was the first soft-drink I had had in over 15 years!  I should have waited.  It was not very good neither was the root beer Mark had.  Oh well.  We sat on the front porch and snacked and relaxed as we noticed an inordinate amount of Can-Am Spyders going by!?  Turns out the big Spyder rally was going on nearby.  It was also quite humorous how many Brits turned up at the store!  It really pissed Mark off!  "When I'm on vacation in America I don't want to see any bloody Brits damn it!".  So, if you don't like Brits, stay away from Cuba, MO!  They apparently flock there!  Actually, you better just stay away from Route 66 altogether as they were everywhere along the way!
     We journeyed on and passed several attractions such as Jellystone Park and Meremec Caverns but, we didn't stop.  We finally stopped in Springfield, MO. at a Motel 6.  We unloaded the bikes and headed to a BBQ joint for dinner.  The name was Buckingham BBQ.  The sign had a pic of a cowboy riding a hog.  Bucking-Ham...get it?  Very nice wait-staff and very good food!  They actually got the Okra right and I can't even get that very often at home!  As we ate, it begain pouring rain!  By the time we finished it had pretty much stopped and we rode over to walmart to acquire some items to do some work on the KLR. 
     This walmart was the biggest I had ever seen in my life!  Ginormous!  We acquired our stuff and headed back to the hotel.  Motel 6 became our motel of choice when we could find one!  The price was always the same and the rooms were always nice!
     We got up the next morning and cleaned the oil and crud off the KLR and sealed it with Flex-Seal (as seen on TV).  This stuff really is wonderful!  Everything I sealed with it stayed sealed the entire trip!  Then we once again loaded up and hit Cracker Barrel for breakfast.  I was concerned about the gravy as I have made the mistake of ordering gravy in places other than the South!  However, it's the same gravy at every Cracker Barrel!  Whew!  Then we hit the road and headed towards Tulsa, OK.
     We passed through Joplin, MO. along the way.  Nice little town with lots of old motels.  At the gas stations, several people stopped to warn us of bad weather and construction delays on the road ahead and looking at the sky suggested we should probably make haste and try to get to Tulsa as quickly as possible!
     We actually managed to avoid the weather and stopped in at our first America's Best Value Inn.  We would stay at several of these along the way and with the exception of one they were a good place to stay. 
     The boy running the front desk gave me a couple of menus of places that delivered to the hotel which was greatly appreciated as we had no desire to go back out once we were in our room!  I tried to order from a small burger joint that said open 7 days a week but, no one answered so, on to the pizza place where we ordered a pizza and a cinnamon desert of some sort and both turned out to be very good!
     This would turn out to be the only night I ever made an entry in my blog while on the road.  Since I was using my phone to make the entries, it was way to difficult and time-consuming after a long day on the road so, I decided to just wait until I got home to do it all in the comfort of my own home on the desktop!

Hello Wrigley!

     We got up at 6am and I headed to the McDonalds across the street for breakfast.  Mark passes on that luxury.  He's not much of a breakfast person anyway.  I noticed a sign stating no more than 30 minutes allowed for dine-in patrons and that the manager must enforce this!  It wasn't long before I figured out why.  It's the same everywhere you go.  There's always a group of old guys sitting around and hanging out for hours on end talking about nothing.  Granted, I think this is great as I like the thought of being able to have someplace to go with old friends to talk about nothing but, this place was too small to have people just hanging out all day.
     After breakfast we load up and head to Chicago to see Wrigley Field.  I had wanted to take Mark to a game but, no one was playing on this particular day so, we just walked around and took lots of pics of the venue from the outside. 
     As I'm writing this I'm uploading pics to my photobucket album as the pic app within blogger doesn't appear to be working!  So, I will most likely have a large group of pics at the end of the post rather than pics strewn throughout.
     After we finished our tour of Wrigley, we set the GPS to take us to the sign that marks the beginning of historical Route 66.  It was quite foggy as we made our way along Lakeshore Dr. on the edge of Lake Michigan!  Also, quite chilly!  However, there was a non-stop parade of joggers on the path along the beachfront!  I'll stick to motorized transport!
     We found the sign and parked directly in front of it so we could take pics.  We left our helmets on because another sign said absolutely no parking and that it was reserved for some foreign consulate and we wanted to be able to make a quick getaway if necessary!  A nice lady who happened to be from Britain took our photo leaning against the sign!  Then Mark wandered off to take pics of the EL as he is a huge Blues Brothers fan.
     After Mark returned we hit the road and headed towards St. Louis to meet up with an old friend and her family.  When I programmed the address in my GPS (on my phone not a standalone device) the female voice would tell me it was X amount of miles to St. Louis but, then after about 20 miles, she suddenly started referring to it as St. Looeee which I found odd but, cool!
     We stopped in a Subway to get a little lunch and relaxed for just a little bit.  The young Spanish lady who took our order had the most breathtakingly beautiful face!  She was also quite pregnant!  Very sweet and lovely!  We had our little lunch then hit the road!
     We rode for many miles when we/I had a sudden realization!  We were right there at the sign for Historic Route 66 but, we weren't following the old road!  Turns out we actually were on Route 66 but, this part was one of many that were also other roads as is often the case where one road will have many designations.  Oh well, no worries.
     Many miles down the road there was a sign that said traffic was at a standstill a few miles up the road and offered a detour.  Now, I don't know if the route we took saved us any time and I don't really care as we were on no real schedule and most importantly, we were able to keep moving!  For those that don't ride, you have no idea of the torture that is stopped traffic!  Especially when the temps are in the 90's or above!  I would rather add an hour to a journey than sit for 15 minutes in traffic!  It's hell on the clutch cable and can turn you into a puddle of sweat in no time!  So, to the detour we went!
     The detour turned out to be a wonderful ride through some lovely, long two-lane roads for probably close to 100 miles.  We didn't get too many pics along the way as nothing really stood out but, was lovely nonetheless.  We finally reconnected with the main route and pulled-off to refuel and Mark saw a Route 66 marker and stopped to take a pic while I went on to get fuel and a drink and snack.
     I sat down outside on a bench and a lady who worked at the store sat down and started chatting with me.  We had a very nice conversation for quite a while and Mark asked about the road and she said we didn't want to go down it as it was in terrible condition and best avoided.  Well, you know what we did!  We hadn't gone far when we hit a straight stretch that was picture perfect Route 66!  There were cracks in the road with grass and other plants growing in them and absolutely no traffic.  We pulled over so we could take some pics and Mark forgot about his fat-ass and plowed his bags into mine and left gouges across my right-side bag!  Oh well, chicks dig scars!  We travelled along the old road for several miles until as happened many times along the ride, the road ended and you were forced to take the interstate.  I truly wish we could have taken the old road everywhere as the pace was better and more relaxed and there was so little traffic to deal with.
     I'm not sure what time it was when we arrived in St. Louis but, it was late.  Lisa and David welcomed us into their home and David and Mark began a deep bromance based on British comedies which apprently David is reallly into!  After quite a while of chatting we headed off to bed!  "Bed" consisted of two couches made up with sheets and pillows and was quite welcome!  One thing that was very nice was we were able to park inside their garage so we didn't have to unload everything as we usually did!
     We awoke the next morning and took showers and I fixed eggs and toast for breakfast and we began work on repairing the mounting plates for my luggage which was still quite bent from my little incident at the gas pumps!  We also did our laundry. 
     After Lisa returned, she had gotten us tickets to a Phillies game and she took us to the stadium and dropped us off.  We also stopped at a Harley shop along the way to buy a couple of bungee nets and some oil which is something I would need a lot of!!
     Lisa had suggested we eat before the game but, we decided to eat inside the stadium.  OOPS!  Tradition dictates we have a drink and a hotdog.  So, that's what we ordered.  For two hotdogs, two tiny bags of chips, a Coke and a water it cost $28!!!!!  That is insane!
     The game was delayed due to rain for about 45 minutes but, we were nice and dry as our seats were under the upper deck.  We were also protected from the glaring sun which beat down relentlessly when it wasn't raining.  Mark had a great time being at a major league ballgame!  I really have no interest in professional sports but, I'm happy to tag along.
     We left the stadium and Lisa had told us to call her and she would tell us how to get on the train that would get us back to her.  I called her and got no answer so, I left a message.  We hung around for quite a while and finally asked someone how to get to the train.  He told us to go 6 blocks and we couldn't miss it.  It would have been really nice if he had just pointed to the train entrance that was ACROSS THE STREET!!  But, we wandered off to the train station and I called Lisa a few times with no answer.  When we finally arrived at the station, Lisa finally called me back.  She hadn't quite grasped the concept that the ringer has to be on for the phone to ring! :) She told us that either of the two trains would take us to a point she could pick us up we just needed to let her know which train we got on.  So, we boarded the train and I started to call Lisa when I realized I had no idea which train we were on!  Luckily, the young man in front of us overheard us and told me which train it was so I was able to call Lisa with the information!  We arrived at the end of the line (literally) and Lisa picked us up and along the way home had a brief drag race with some idiot in a POS trans-am who didn't stand a chance!  Back home and back to bed!
     We woke the next morning to David cooking pancakes and Lisa cooking bacon!  No better way to start the day!  The kids had asked before we arrived if we would take them for rides but, now had chickened-out so, we figured we would give them a little show on our departure.  I pulled out and rode a wheelie down the street which would have been better but, my right luggage was quite a bit heavier than the left and it leaned me towards a parked car so I had to abort the wheelie before it ended-up being a repeat of a moment from my past we won't speak of at this moment.  Mark did a screaming burnout as he pulled away from the house!  See what you missed kids!!
     Lisa had taken the time to write down directions to keep us on the old road as much as possible all the way to uh...I forget.  Unfortunately, she hadn't put any mileages on the directions so, we had no idea how far it was in-between turns and as such, had no way to know if we were on track or if we had missed a turn.  So, I fired-up the GPS again and let her guide the way.

My apologies and a tragic update.

     I apologize for the delays in updating this blog!  I've been trying to update it in the order events happened but, unfortunately, on Friday July 4th, My friend Mark who undertook this epic journey with me had an accident and is currently in the hospital.  It was a very slow-speed crash but, it did severe damage to his right tibia and required extensive surgery and at the moment he is fighting infection and having a tough time.  I've been at the hospital every day and it has made it a bit difficult to update things here.  I will try my best to update things as before over the next several days.
     Let me take just a moment to try to impress upon those of you reading this that ride to always wear as much protective gear as possible every time you ride!  It's impossible to protect against every possibility but, for the majority of incidents you can protect yourself quite well!
     Mark struggled with the cost of a new pair of high-end riding boots but, decided to go ahead and buy them.  This decision saved his ankle!  There was no damage to the bones of the ankle!  His kevlar-lined jeans protected him from much of the abrasion of the guardrail and his jacket did the same.  His helmet didn't factor in this as he didn't hit it at all but, please, please, never ride without one!
     Ride safe and enjoy the ride!

Here we go again!

     Ahhh!  Nothing like a good four hours sleep!  Checkout is at noon so, it's time to load up and try to find a bike shop to get a new tube for the KLR.  I head outside to bring the bikes over under the loading zone where there is a nice roof.  Why does this matter you ask?  Because it's raining and thundering!  That's why!  Lovely! 
     In keeping with our soon to be tradition of little things that conspire to hinder our forward travel, I have a flat tire!  So, I break out my little pump and start airing the tire and the pump craps out at 30psi.  Not great but, enough to get me somewhere to get things fixed.
     As we're loading the bikes a gentleman comes over and asks us about the bikes and tells us there used to be a bike shop a few blocks away but, he's not sure if it's still there.  He also tells us it's the only one within miles!
     So, Mark and I head in to use the hotel computers in the lobby to find this shop.  Remember me telling you about those little things?  Just as we click on the internet, the wifi for the whole hotel goes poof!  I head over to the lovely girl at the desk who looks like a younger, prettier, Latin version of Jamie Gertz!  She is the first of many people we will meet who go out of their way to help us along our journey of course, we don't know that yet!  She tells me her computer is apparently the only one still working and offers to help me find the bike shop!  She locates it and I call and they are still in business!  Yay!  So, I call them and see if they might be able to help and discover they are now located in INDIANA!!  Little things...  So, the search went on, and on, and on.  I have no idea what her name was but, she was a very patient and helpful young lady!  We finally found a shop just a few blocks away that could take care of us.  Yay (again).
     We rode over to the shop and along the way Mark nearly died when a jumbo jet passed right over us at a very low altitude since we were right next to Midway airport!
     The guy at the shop was nice and a quite happy fellow.  Of course, if I was making that kind of money for the amount of work I did, I would be happy too!  The only tube he had was a Pirelli tube which of course was $36.  After labor and two lead weights ($6!) the total came to $136!!  Absolutely ridiculous!
     The carb I had to use was running really rich so, since we were at a shop, I figured I'd buy a new jet to lean it out a bit.  I called up Eagle Mike who is a wealth of knowledge in the KLR community and he advised me on what jet to try and what adjustments to make.  So, we did a little surgery in the parking lot and decided it was getting late and we would be better off getting a room and then heading into Chicago the next day.
     I called the 800 number for Super 8 and got some lady with a very heavy accent that was unable to deviate from her script and what should have been a 2-minute call turned into a 20-minute ordeal!  I finally was able to get the information I needed despite her being hell-bent on booking me right then and there on the phone!  We rode to the hotel and the hostess told us there was a nice bar/grill on the corner within walking distance!  Excellent! 
     The bar was decent and it was $1 burger night!  I ordered three and they were pretty good!  While we ate, the sky opened-up and it poured like crazy!  Powerful thunder and lightning and wind were the main course!  So, rather than walk back in this crap, we shot a few games of pool.  The storm died down pretty quickly and we headed back to the hotel.  Time for the first of many nights of painfully little sleep!  To save time later, I'll go ahead and tell you I never did sleep more than two or three hours total each night of the trip.  It's like that at home too but, at least there I'm in a comfortable bed!
No pics related to today but, there will be plenty tomorrow!

More pics to come!

There will be more pics posted later that are relevant to each post but, many of them are on a different camera and will have to be exported to my account so, keep checking back but, the majority will be added after I return from our trip!  I hope you will enjoy my tales of the journey and I will try to post as often as I can!

Boom! Goes the dynamite!

     Having fueled our bikes and bodies, we headed off towards Chicago!  Around 2:30am, at about 70mph , the bike started to weave again.  I did my usual methods to try and tame it and nothing was working and it was rapidly getting worse!  I started working my way to the shoulder of the road as the bike tried its' best to go into a full-fledged tank-slapper!  When I got pulled over, we discovered the tire was completely off the rim!  This is not good.
     We turned the bikes around to face traffic and turned on our accessory lights which are LED's we installed before the trip and Mark had a high-power flashlight which had a flasher mode and put that on his bike as well to try to give as much warning as possible to the numerous vehicles that were flying by!  We were only inches from the white line even though it doesn't look like it in the picture.  Although I wasn't looking since Mark was keeping watch, I did see at least one big truck that actually changed lanes from the left lane over directly to the right just as he was approaching us!  Idiot!
     Before we left my wife asked me, "What are you forgetting?".  I told her we would know when we needed it!  As always, I was right!  We dug out the tools and realized I had left my tire irons at home!  So, I got out some box-end wrenches and used those!  When we got the tube out of the wheel, we discovered the tire had been creased when it was installed and at least a foot -long section had been folded and the part that was in the middle of the crease had fatigued and had about 5 ,1/2 inch long splits that were doing a poor job of keeping in the air!  I broke out my trusty patch kit I've had for uh....uh...a long time and proceeded to patch said holes.  We then used my portable pump to  air up the tube and check for leaks.  Good thing we did as there were more!  We got those patched and put the tube back in and pumped it up and got that wonderful, satisfying POP of the bead seating!  Success!  We then loaded up our crap and started to turn the bikes around to leave when the state troopers pulled up!
     They got out and the female officer who looked a lot like Joe from Eureka (sci-fy network) walked towards us so, I walked towards her and said "Now you show up!".  She said with only one car in 50 miles, you're lucky we got here at all!  We told them what had happened and they said they would stay there to block for us as we got out on the road and we pulled-out and they followed us for a mile or so and then went on.
     We rode on without further difficulties other than having to make a U-turn when we missed our exit in Chicago and finally arrived at the hotel at about 5:30A.M.!
     We unloaded our bikes and hauled everything to the room and I took a shower while Mark did his best coma patient imitation!  Quite realistic actually!
     We had ridden for 19 hours and had been up for 25.  In the past two days, I had had 2 hours of sleep thanks to the late nights working on the bikes!  Good times!  Good times!

Does this luggage make my butt look big?

     Somewhere in Indiana around midnight, we stopped to get gas and food at a station with a 24hr Subway.  I pulled in to the pump and filled my tank and handed the nozzle back to Mark so he could fill his.  I then pulled away to go park and head inside.  However, I've never ridden a bike with wide hard luggage before.  I've always used my soft luggage which although large are rather high and give quite a bit.  My new luggage is very large and wide and doesn't give as much.  My left bag caught the concrete barrier at the end of the pump island and violently spun the bike around to the right and out from under me!  I ended up standing there with the bike lying between my legs!  Mark came over quickly and we got the bike up and I pushed it over to the parking space to check it out.
     The boy that was working came out all excited and worried asking if we were ok and if there was anything they could do to help.  I told him we were fine and we'd be in shortly to get something to eat.  I started cracking up telling Mark about my fat-ass causing us trouble!  We took the bags off and one of them was cracked in the reflective trim around the handle but, no other damage was done to the bags!  The mounting plates did not fare so well!  The plates have two pins shaped like mushrooms on the bottom and a locking tang on the top.  Both plate were bent all to crap!  One of the pins was torn completely off and the other one was loosely hanging on one plate.  The other plate had both pins but, one was bent severely.  We bent the plates enough that they would  work and put the bags back on.  We bungeed the one with the missing pin so it wouldn't fall off!  We went in and had our dinner after an incredibly complicated ordering process that I won't even go into right now!
   

So, when ya leaving?

Well, things never really go as you plan do they?  Our original departure date was June 13, 2014.  However, nothing went right.  Over the course of that weekend and part of the next week, we experienced massive oil leaks, tire size issues, clogged fuel filters, damaged countershaft splines and a bad carburetor!
     Every time we would get something fixed we would find something else wrong!  After we had everything fixed, (or so we thought) we fired up my KLR which has never let me down but once and it was 5 degrees below 0 so, I can't really blame her for that one can I, and it wouldn't idle.  We figured the gas had gone bad and took it out for a run to try to get some fresh gas through it and hopefully clear it out.  It actually got worse!  It would run fine for a moment then it would lose power and I would have to give it full throttle just to keep moving at all then it would suddenly gain full-power again!  Then, it would die and leave me on the side of the road for a few minutes then it would start and run fine only to repeat the cycle over and over until we got it home.
     Luckily, I had another carburetor that I had never used which was supposed to be set up for performance and would only get about 36mpg.  At this point it was my only option.  So, on it went.  We fired it up and it purred like a kitten!
     So, on Tuesday, June 17, we finally set off!  Originally, we were going to be riding from here to L.A. and back but, this delay will really shorten our trip!  No idea ho far we'll make it but, as long as we make it to Red Cliff, Colorado I'm happy!  As it turns out, my friend's Great-Great-Grandfather was a founder of the town.  He was also the town Marshal and Doctor!
     We got up at 5am and had breakfast at Greenwood Deli and as always it was delicious!  We came home and loaded the bikes down with all our gear and set off for adventure!
With my main bag behind me, I only had one position I could sit in and it was way against the tank!  Not the best for long-distance riding!  We later swapped my main bag for one of the sleeping bags on Mark's bike and I had a much better riding position!  I like scrambled eggs but, not my eggs scrambled!!  We rode to Duffield, VA. And stopped in to get a drink and to see a friend who unfortunately was no longer working there so, that was disappointing.
     From there we hit Hwy 58 towards Cumberland Gap.  The ride was fairly uneventful as I've made this trip many, many times!  We stopped in Corbin, KY.  To fuel up and dicovered I was getting 34mpg!  This sucks!  I'm used to 54 or more!  This is really going to  cut into my expenses!
     From there we hit I-75 and headed towards Chicago!  A very generous friend had us booked at the Marriott in Midway Illinois and I had called and told them it would be a very late check-in!  This would turn out to be an understatement!
     Once we got onto the interstate, I discovered whenever the big trucks would get around me I would develop

a slow-weave.  If two trucks got around me, I would develop a serious speed-wobble!  It was ok as long as I stayed below 70mph but, at any speed above that, it really tried to get away from me!  I often had to hit the rear brake and the throttle at the same time to bring it out but, it never slowed me down!
     At one of our next stops, I decided to check my tire pressures since that's a main cause of such problems and I discovered they were quite low.  I thought it odd since I had just had the tires and tubes put on and he said he had put the right pressures in them according to what I like to run.  So, I aired them up and hit the road and it was so much more stable!  Happy!