Sunday, June 22, 2014
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!
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?
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!
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
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!
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