Ok. *sigh* Wow. After a day to decompress and reflect....that was epic.
For all the statistic geeks: (guess that must include me...since I put the numbers together!)
Miles: 1342. Round-trip. 587 w/ GZ.
Fuel used: 27.539 gal.
Fuel cost: $103.33
Food: $73.44
Misc Travel, camp & ferry fees, souvenirs, etc: $74.
Total 4 day, 3 night trip: $254.26
Memories: Priceless!
Now I'll try to condense the trip report: (yeah, right...this is going to be looooooong)
GZ arrives and makes a serious mess!Seriously?
You born in a barn?? Oh wait... your GZ. You were born to DESTROY!!!!!
Sitting on my 04 955i. Swear I heard him say, "Momma... all I want to do is go Faaaaaasssst!"
Doing his pre-flight inspection.
As most of you know by now, I had clutch failure early Friday morning. Limped it home, and started to do the clutch. Already had disks ready for another CB650 project. (see it helps to have more than 1 project going @ a time!!)
It wasn't going to be successful, due to a torn clutch cover gasket. Thought I would RTV it, but....I'm going 1300+ miles. Would really suck for the RTV to fail, out on the road. I hate oil leaks!
Clutch trashed.
So, loaded up my 1981 GL500i Silverwing and took off.
Hot and humid morning, and my mind is still dwelling on the clutch issue, so I miss my exit on the north side of Des Moines, to connect up with HWY330 to Cedar Rapids.
End up riding I-80 an extra hr or so. Its got to be close to 100deg, and I always ride with a armored jacket...um..yeah... Was coming up with all kinds of creative ways to drink water while riding, wearing a full face helmet. I'm downing, bottle after bottle of water. I-80 is a horribly boring ride.
Through Cedar Rapids, up 151 all the way to Madison. Been through Madison a few times, and definitely want to come back and explore it @ a more relaxed pace.
Through Madison up to Columbus WI, and couldn't find my campground. Saw an older farm couple working in their garden, which was right by the highway, so I pulled in, waved, and asked for directions. After a nice conversation, the guy says, 'heck, follow me, I'll show you where it is, its right down the road.' He jumps in his pick-up and I follow. Yup, right down the road. Must have passed by it 3 times! We stop @ the park entrance and chat a bit more, then off he goes. His name was John. Told him, if I had a beer with me, you could come on down to my campground and have a drink with me and we can tell some lies! He laughs and says, 'yeah, I'd like that. If you pass this way again, come up and knock on the door.' Pretty cool.
Hot. Humid. No breeze. Lots of drunk campers on a Friday night. Definitely did not get much sleep.
Luckily they had good showers, and the campground was nice enough, I'd be back.
Packed up quickly and hit the road Saturday a.m.
Not a GPS user, so stopped and got a new WI map, and left in open in my top tank bag pocket, so I could find my way through Milwaukee. Made it through town and to RockerBox with no problems. Its still crazy hot and humid and I'm exhausted when I get there.
Motorcycle is loaded with all my traveling gear, so I decided not to venture too far from it, while I make a few calls to Bruce (oldschool), Dennis (oldscrambler) and others, to let them know I'm here.
Connect up with Dennis, and we unload my stuff in his van. Now I can relax, that no one is going to swipe my gear!
We chat a bit, walk the show and meet-up with various other sohc/4 guys through out the day.
Rockerbox is a show, you have to attend. The atmosphere was perfect. Tattoo'd girls everywhere. Motorcycle eye candy galore. All nestled in an eclectic part of town. I'm going back next year!!
Interesting take on customizing a Ruckus!
Where are all the turbo kits they sold, back in the day?? (So I don't overflood this post with pics.... I'll let other guys do a write-up with pics of the RockerBox show.)
Since this is where I part company with skamaggedon, seanbarney, bankerdanny and tews19... I'll put my thanks to each of you now.
*Tews19: You're right...I was exhausted. Done a lot of cross country tours, but the heat and lack of sleep was wearing on me, by the time I got to RockerBox. Thanks for the pint of Spotted Cow. It hit the spot!
*Skamaggedon: Didn't get to chat much, but was good to make your acquaintance. Ballsy dude riding to RockerBox on a fresh rebuild engine!
*Bankerdanny: Nice MG. Thanks for letting us pop the hood and be engine geeks for a few minutes. Plus GZ needed to sit on English Roadster @ least once!
*Seanbarney: I'm coming back to RockerBox next year, lets plan to ride together. Would love to do the Lake Express and check out the roads on MI side. Plus, I got a feeling you and could put back a few dark beers (or 6)! Ha. Good to meet you!
Left RockerBox, heading to Dennis house. About an hr. We kind of beat the rain. Was a light, but steady rain, but really started to come down after we got to his house. Met his bro. and sis. in-law. We sat around, told stories, and got acquainted. Went to a local place for burgers and boy... they went down fast! Tasty.
Sat. a.m., Dennis and I do an 2 hr tour of misc. State park roads, head to Sheboygan, tour part of the coast of Lake MI.
Outside Kettle Moraine State Park.
Photo op by Lake MI. Yup, was riding on the sidewalk!
Was a great morning ride. We get back to his house and chat about a route back home. He suggests a specific state park on the WI / IA border that shouldn't be missed.
So, I pack up and leave his place around 2:30.
(Dennis: Boy...I sure got lost leaving your house. I ended up taking hwy 57 north. By time I realized it, I backtracked and ended up back @ your place. Lost about an hr. total on that 'detour'!)
Wyalusing state park for my saturday evening. Wow. Spectacular campground. Sunning spots overlooking the river, high up on some bluffs. (Note to self: I need to get to bed earlier.... The sun comes up @ like 5:30...an in a tent... um.. yeah, can't really pulled the shades down and hit snooze.)
Woke up to see the sun coming up, and heavy fog coming up off the MS river. Pics look like I was above the clouds. Phenomenal!
Camping above the clouds.
Crazy temperature shift too. Was mid to high 90's Sat. afternoon, and when I woke up Sunday morning it was about 51deg! Sure was loving the windshield on the GL500! Stayed cool most of the day, til mid-afternoon.
Headed to Cassville WI to take the ferry across to IA.
Train was stopped on the tracks, so took opportunity to hit up a local breakfast cafe. Met another rider, named Eric. In his late 60's touring on a newer GS BMW. His route was: Atlanta, VA (don't remember which one), NY, WI, IA, up to WA! Doing what he called a 'credit card tour'. Hotels all the way! We chatted over breakfast about riding, motorcycles, etc. Finished up breakfast and rode down to wait for the ferry.
Its me and 2 other cars for this trip across. $8 for motorcycles. Meet 2 guys from the Netherlands on holiday. (Why do we say vacation instead of Holiday? Holiday sounds like more of an adventure. An excursion!) He's some famous scientist that came to Chicago for a lecture, and then him and his son were spending 2 weeks driving around exploring America. They said the heat over the last week was nothing they had ever experienced before. He put his hands on his head... and said 'oy..sooooo oppressive'. Yeah, that about sums it up.
(me & the 2 from netherlands)
Met another couple from Alaska that were on a road trip with their 3 girls. Nice couple...although I kept having to watch what I said... The husband made me nervous, when he said he was a Alaska State Trooper. I joking said, 'oh crap, now I gotta watch what I say, right?' Don't think he really laughed!
Then rolled on towards Cedar Rapids. Stopped for a broke down motorcyclist, coming into Anamosa, IA. Worked with him for about an hr. Traced the problem back to a fuel pump issue. (2004 Royal Star Yamaha). Got his #, and headed into town to try and find him a tow service or motorcycle shop. Spent about 2 hrs @ the motorcycle museum (well worth the $7!), while I waited around to make sure he got taken care of. Was about 3 hrs. before I got back on the road.
(Side note regarding the Museum): Even though the have tons of Metric bikes there, there are a lot of Harleys. Realized how much I really don't like Harleys. All the Harley race bikes they had on display were from private owners, who built them themselves., in their basements, improving the multitude of Harley errors. Maybe if Harley actually had a factory race program, they could have worked out more of the bugs, OIL LEAKS, and other items, and had a reliable motorcycle. But....got to give it to them... they are real good @ selling an image.) Ok, rant done. I'll still stick my hand down and wave @ any biker. Harleys included!
After Anamosa, its on through Cedar Rapids, Des Moines and back home. The last 2 hrs was painful. Had done all I the riding I could handle for the day. Was doing all I could to stay focused. Stood up on the pegs, to stretch the legs. Cranked the stereo. Put feet on back pegs to change position. It was crazy hot & humid again, and now I'm hating the stupid windshield. Ugh. Love it during cold temps. Hate it when its hot.
Then I'm home. Drink a beer. Crash.
Glad to have played a part for the 2nd GZ tour. Since I had to ride a v-twin liquid...Does this mean that the HTTA (Honda Transverse Twin Association) was represented for GZ 2012!?
Misc. thank you's that I may have missed: Dennis- oldscrambler. Had a blast meeting and hanging with you. Looking forward to meeting up in IA in a few weeks.
Shane72: Sorry my clutch issue put me behind schedule, so that we couldn't meet and ride. Appreciate the suggestions regarding hwy330, 30 and 151. Much better that sticking to I-80!
All in all....was a great ride. Got 2 more similar trips before end of year, and then a Key West trip sometime between Jan-March 2013. Going to make it a 15000 mile year.
Talk to you all later.
****Will update this when I get the pic from Dennis, of me handing GZ to him. Then I can add it and the hand off to Sean Barney, and this post will be complete.
