The Bapper Travels

Auntie_NoNo

Originally uploaded by thekidfromcrumlin

Today was a nice day of hard grind, long miles in high temperatures. The addition of Auntie NoNo, to the trip amounts to what I guess is about a 300 mile diversion; of course most of it is off the highway, so they are a slow couple of miles. That said I am really happy I got down to see her, if not for running parallel to a cop and a lot of roadworks today I would have gotten in much earlier, but I got here none the less.

Auntie NoNo is in fine form, and I got to meet her puppies which are named after Jane Austin characters, but that apparently does not make her weird :)

As I am just 1200 miles or so from home now and today I did a bit over 800 miles I am wondering if I should go with the plan of a three easy days of 400 miles a piece, or if I think I can notch it up and do two 600+mile days. 1500 miles in two days is enough to qualify for the Iron Butt Bun Burner award, so that would lead to me to believe it is not easy :)

Anyway, to some quick ramblings from today, carrying on from yesterdays comments about billboards, today I did not see too many, but I did note the number of anti-abortion non-commercial billboards once I got into Kansas, they continue until I got here. Also I noted around Tulsa a big US Army recruiting poster, it had a guy in full uniform with the tagline “are you tough enough”, quite a bit from the invoking of pride to become a Marine.

I have also come to think that you can judge a lot about a state based on its rest areas, Iowa had full time staff keeping them clean, as well as free WiFi. Kansas on the other hand many toilets with no stall doors, and those that had them were without locks. Please draw your own conclusions.

As I have come back East I also have noted the reduction in large freight trains, I measued some of the trains I saw in the past few days, on average they were about 1.1 Miles long and were jammed with coal.

I really did seem to be all business today, I had planned on hitting the Atomic Canon, but when the time came, I elected to keep rolling.

In general I found Colorado to be a truly beautiful state, imagine my surprise when today it turned ugly, I was wondering how all was so brown and five minutes later I saw the “Welcome to Kansas sign” I guess it is not easy being a state in the Midwest.

Despite hitting snooze a good few tiemes this morning as when my alarm went off I knew I could not pull off the 13 hours of riding today, so I am off to get some sleep; this will help make me strong tomorrow as well as help me recover from last night.

Brian

Mighty_Green_Egg

Originally uploaded by thekidfromcrumlin

Again I awake in Denver with a sore noggin, and an over stuffed stomach. Justin and I went to see Gonzo in the local Landmark theatre and it really was enjoyable. It even seemed like a slightly healthy option as Emily was kind enough to drive us there, and we were going to walk the mile or so home.

I was already a bit rough, as to re-hydrate post massage I popped into Dougherty’s bar for a refreshing cider, alas they only had it in a bottle and I learned that at happy hour you buy one beer, and they give you a second one. Ouch. Just when I was about to leave G-Nome dropped in with her friend, so I had to order one more beer, which of course was two.
The massage was super wonderful, the masseuse was a former professional pole vaulter, I needed some good deep tissue work and I suspect that had I given her a piece of coal she could have made it into a diamond. Really good work.

After Dougherty’s Harmon fired up the Big Green Egg and rocked out some steaks and onions.

We really enjoyed the HST movie, and when we popped in for a drink in the place across the street we met the first person in Denver who has approved of my idea to go to Casa Bonita. So its on, I am going to stop writing this nonsence, and go be a tourist. I really hope tomorrows entry is better then the past two days. Denver is a rough town :)

Oooo and our stupid drunken asses had McDonalds after we got home. Yeah us.

Brian

Brian_Karen

Originally uploaded by thekidfromcrumlin

Day 6 – Super Slab

By getting onto the super-slab today I was going to be able to chew up some serious mileage, after the hot tub and a full nights rest the 550 miles from Walnut Iowa to Cheyenne Wyoming was not too bad at all.

With the fantastic 75MPH speed limits it did not take too long at all to get to the SAC museum. They had a lot of great stuff, but it was so crammed into the hangers it was hard to get good photos. Most of what they had was fairly standard fair B1A, B52, SR71, U2 etc. but they also had a B-36J which was one of the oddest planes I had ever seen with its six props and four jet engines. Really odd.

As I got deeper into Nebraska the terrain lost most of its feature and it was just flat in all directions, most people had warned me that Nebraska was a boring state, but I didn’t find it too bad at all. At speed it went by pretty quickly. It was also sort of cool seeing the combine harvesters (I am not sure what the US name is) out working the fields, the entire machines were just covered in layers of dust they were kicking up while doing their jobs. Funny that my allergies have not been a problem on this trip, must be something in Virginia.

To help blend with Nebraska I had selected to listen to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle maintenance as an audiobook. Last time I read that book I came away with an opinion that is quite different to me this time, of course I am not at the end yet, but it seems different. I suspect it is not the text that has changed in the past ten years.
The blending of iPod with trip had come up a few times naturally on this trip, when riding in Canada when “Blame Canada” came on from the SouthPark Movie I felt like a fugitive, on the big line “When Canada is dead and gone, there will be no more Celine Dion” I cheered even louder then usual. The played the song again and responded equally well.
Earlier in Nebraska I was listening to the Moth Podcast and the speech was talking about a fifth generation Nebraskan trying desperately to get out.

On my last gas stop I performed my routing inspection of the bike, after some 27K miles and plenty of fruitless inspections I noticed something this time. One of the bolts holding the rear brake caliper in place had worked itself loose with the vibrations. Thankfully it is a really long bolt so it had not quite fallen out. Loosing this bolt would not have caused things to stop working, but who knows where a bolt dropping into a wheel at 90MPH would have ended up.
I tightened the bolt, and then performed a second more thorough inspection but found nothing else. I had rolled the tires at the gas stop before and made sure they were good all the way round, as the miles continue to rack up on the Bapper it will be key that I keep looking at these things, and now I have a reminder of why it is important.

Finally arrival in Cheyenne gave me the chance to see the Dougherty’s, the whole clan seem to be doing very well, the night ended with Karin doing a cross word, Dan and I playing on the Internets (you don’t think this blog writes itself), and since I am deprived of an iPhone, damn Apple, I have to geotag by hand while I still remember where I have been.
Tomorrow we are going to do some tourist stuff around here, so should have more photos from that, then the actually trip is just 245 miles up to Gillette for the rally. I knew there was a reason I was riding for the past five days.

I am not sure how connectivity will be there, so if I go offline for a while, please don’t be concerned. Sunday I leave and come back to Cheyenne or Denver depending on the timing, so I would suspect programming to restart then or Monday.

Brian

USS_Riverside_Bapper_Brian

Waking up in Sun Prairie Wisconsin this morning my concerns from yesterday about heat catching up with me soon came to pass. Its been between 85-90 degrees Fahrenheit about 30 Celsius all day, and that is taking its toll on me. I think tomorrow I will soak my cooling vest and try and take my core down a few degrees.

I did have the pleasure of again encountering one of the things that I still find odd about US culture. I believe the Irish are much more a private people then our cousins on this side of the pond, and in some ways I am more private then most. Around Cedar Rapids as I was finally going to make the move from lovely back roads, in this case 151 onto Interstate 380 a guy working at the gas station I was fueling up at struck up a conversation. He told me that he had lost his bike in ‘the flood’ as well as having two homes destroyed and since all FEMA gave him was $24K to fix the homes, he and his wife decided the only option was to declare bankruptcy and start again.
How horrible the flooding has been around here makes my whining about the heat today all the more ridiculous, but along with my heart going out to this guy, I was also shocked that he would pour that much information out to a complete stranger.
It is something I have noticed before in the US and I suspect may be healthier then keeping things wrapped up to yourself, or just family, but it is certainly not my way.

From there I moved to one of the stops I have been most looking forward which is in Riverside Iowa where I got to see the future birthplace of Captain James T Kirk. The U.S.S. Riverside looked suitable cheesy, and even has a sister now, Shuttle No. 1. From there it was a short walk into town to see the stone marking Kirk, I was touched with a reverence I have not felt since seeing the tombstones at Graceland.
I was so high on life that I decided to cross the road to the icehouse bar and have my first beer of the trip. Given the temperature outside I was very please with the froth and not so happy with the walk back to the bike.

I now am at the point that I can tell how bad I am smelling, not a good sign. My wicking under-layer are doing their job, but I need to get my armor into a washing machine.

Combing the heat right now, with drinking and riding being such a horrible combo I am writing this posting early today. When the temperature drops, and the beer drops from my system it is onto Des Moines and tasty tacos for dinner per Carin’s advice, and then when it is cooler I will roll as much further as I can. As I am within two days of the rally now, and going to be on Interstates for much of them, it is time to just pin back my ears and pile on the miles. Just a shame my body is sore and tired, apart from that the plan is perfect

Brian

The last couple of hours from my posting made for beautiful riding, there was a beautiful sunset for almost an hour, and then to add to the fun I could see an electrical storm for about 60 miles. As it started to rain I was approaching a motel that had been up on billboards, for once I made the right decision and pulled rather then do an extra hour and get soaked. I also splurged the extra $40 for a room with a Whirlpool tub, so I will be going there in a few minutes to try and ease my muscles. I even have laundry going, it seems checking in at 22:30 instead of midnight or later gives you more options :) A short day, 422 miles.

Night!!

Sunset_over_the_Wisconsin_Prairie_1

Originally uploaded by thekidfromcrumlin

This mornings ride in Canada started off a bit grey again but I got a great nights sleep last night, and felt ready to face the world. When reentering the U.S. they wanted to know if I had any weapons on me, I could see them being so precise going into Canada but I thought the US liked that sort of thing. When entering Canada I was asked about four different ways if I had any weapons, weapons even for personal protection, knives, guns, pepper spray, mace etc. Both sides were concerned about booze and smokes, and the question of food came up just the once.

The sun had come out by the time I hit Manistique, Michigan and it was proving to be a wonderful day, I fired up the grill (a gift for Christmas) which worked very well, and I actually spent some time hanging out at a lake and relaxing just across from a “Big Boy”.

As I continued south I began to notice that a grain silo in the distance was a warning to hold your breath, I guess they must be used for animal feed now as the reek of manure follows very closely behind seeing one. The big surprise was one of the times in the middle of the smell beside a silo was a BMW Motorcycle dealership. Not quite the same feeling as Bobs or Morton’s.

I always suspected that fire trucks were made somewhere, but a little after seeing Lambeau field I rolled by the headquarters of Pierce Manufacturing. That in itself was pretty cool with all the firetrucks out front, but I chuckled to myself for some time given the sound fire tucks made that they are made just outside a place called Nee-Nah. … Ouch, sorry.

I also had the ABS make my life much easier today, I was rolling along and saw the field in the image above, I didn’t have much room to pull over and get the shot, so I yanked on the breaks and rolled over to the shoulder. What I learned was that more then half the shoulder was gravel, I noticed this when I was already committed and the ABS did a nice smooth job of wiping off the speed. Without ABS that would have been a lot uglier I suspect.

Today will be my last day of proper 2-3 lane roads, tomorrow morning I hit the super-slab which is great from a mileage consumption standpoint, but I will loose much of the character. I think it will be good as the usual pains are setting in , knees, right wrist etc. so a day of easy high speed cruising should be good.

Today was a short travel day totaling only about 407 miles. I suspect tomorrow will be another story.

Cheers

Brian