OK, so where were we? Leaving the AMA museum...
Right, so I leave the AMA Museum arouns 1PM and head towards US40 in Columbus, and start heading west. Thankfully I soon spotted an independant Mexican restaraunt beyond all the "Apostrophe S" crap joints by the interstate. I hadn't realised just how badly I needed to sit down and eat a real meal. I was shaking by the time my gigantic plate of chile poblanos arrived.
From here, it was just more bland riding on US40 across Ohio. This time though, the bike was ejoying dying on me at idle, without warning...
bump bump bump bump bump DEAD.
Almost every stop if I didn't tweak the throttle. The starter got a workout the rest of the day!
Just west of Dayton, the skies opened up on me and I had to get the rain gear on again. After stopping to take it off a few miles later, I was pelted by a biblical barrage of insects. I mean, like a FREAKY amount! I've never been pelted quite like that before. I was COVERED in bug guts!
In Richmond IN I stopped at a hardware store to pick up a couple of padlocks for my panniers (forgot to do that before leaving) so I wouldn't have to unload everything at night... I noticed in the store that I was getting a LOT of weird looks...
I didn't notice until leaving, that my mesh jacket had caught a bunch of those bugs in the perforations and there were nasty fly-bug things stuck, sticking out all over the front of my jacket!! GROSS!
I continued on that night to Greenfield IN. I figured it would be a good sized town that I could find a place to stay at, without beeing too close to Indianapolis. Well, it was nearly a repeat of the sitation the night before! There were 4 chain hotels at the interstate, and I had been to 3 of them with the same deal... cars running around to each all trying to find a room the same time as me. Well, this time I got wise though, and ran into a Super8 w/helmet, earplugs, gloves and all still on to get up to the counter... score! someone had cancelled and I got the last room... a bargain at $140 & no discounts honored. What the hell man? Well, this time it wasn't a truck show, or helicopter convention, or job fair or whatever... it was @#%! NASCAR. or whatever the hell the "Brickyard" is. Whatver. It seems to attract lots of people with mullets and who use coleman coolers as luggage.
I couldn't stand to get back on the bike any more, so I walked across the street and had a feast at Steak N Shake, and aa gigantic chocolate shake which always makes me feel a little better.
Next day, back in the saddle again right through the heart of indianapolis... except for the part where US40 suddenly turns into a one-way going the OTHER way, and no signs to tell you where to turn... and then to find my way around all the surrounding streets closed off for some kind of festival.. and the others closed for constrction...
Couple hours later... I'm finally west of Indy.
I also discovered that if you want to follow the "old 40" or scenic route or whatever, you have to keep an EAGLE-EYE out for these little tiny "National Road" signs placed along the "new" US40... but not ahead of the turn, RIGHT AT the turn... so, you have to spot the sign, and make a lightning-quick decidion to take the old road, hit the brakes hard, and hope that no one was tail-gating you. Then you can get off the boring, flat, straight 4-lane and go through the town.
I did this as much as possible through the rest of Indiana and Illinois.
And naturally, the closer I got to home, the hotter and more miserable the weather became.
Whereas on the whole rest of the trip I was nearly COLD with my mesh jacket and DragginJeans, I was now miserable and sweaty and nasty as I got closer to St. Louis.. the temps had gone from low 70's to 100 and about 75% humidity.
Finally, at about 5:30PM, I returned home. Just under 1,000 miles clocked in the 3 days.
the bike did very well, used about 1/2qt of oil, but did start to develop a bit of a head leak. I rolled 2k on the odometer, so I'll be doing maintenance anyway, and will just add a head torque to the list and see how it goes. the stalling at idle thing I suspect will probably just go away with the standard maintenance of cleaning and checking all the bits.
I learned that I don't really want to tour w/out a windshield again, that I really, really want differnt handlebars, and that a rigid-mount seat really sux monkey ballz. That, or the seat has fully compressed, and that my spine must the perfect consistency to telegraph every. single. fire. of the piston through the seat, up my spine, and into my skull, sounding like a Japanese kodo drum inside my skull. really. it was the most miserable aspect of the ride. I'll sacrifice front/back mobility for a springy-mounted seat any day if it's like this...
Averaged about 62mpg, and never went over 60mph. No actual "breakdowns".
With 20/20 hindsight, what I *should* have done was stopped in Cincinatti that first night, called my scooter-friend up who lives there, and then went out for an awesome Indian feast on Ludlow Ave. then settled in early at a cheap hotel or the dudes couch. Then I would have gotten up and gone to the Taft NHS for my stamp there, then rode up to Dayton to thump around getting the 4 different Wright Bros NP stamps in the area. Then got a head-start going home.
Why I *didn't* do that, is a testament to the effects of fatigue on your judgement.
Instead I did a 1K ride for crap and didn't really enjoy it at all. I feel like I did it just to punish myself and waste a heapload of money on crap hotels that should have been $40/night.
I learned that US highways kinda suck now, and most/all the fun little old sites and motels are gone, and that the mid-west and east are really, really not my thing. at least not until you hit the Blue Ridge I guess. That area is real nice. Otherwise, I'll stick with everything west of Denver, thank you very much.
I didn't take many pictures, but the ones I did take are here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/brianwittling/AMAHallOfFameRideEnjoy!
Topic: 1K Weekend, Part 2 (Read 2708 times)