The Bapper Travels

East_of_St_Louis_93_Octane

Originally uploaded by thekidfromcrumlin

After my four hours sleep I feel much better and like I can write something of value instead of last nights placeholder. It looks like I am about 475 Miles approx 7 ½ hours from home. This is of course bitter sweet, it will be really nice to be home, but I will of course miss the miss the road, and I will miss the isolation in many ways. There are few things like tranquility of 12 hours within your helmet with no interruption.

I did ride further then I planned last night, my intention was only to go as far as Lexington, but once I got there all the hotels were taken, so I rode about another 60 miles. This was not pleasant at the time, as I was approaching Lexington near 2am, and Louisville around 1am traffic was erratic, I can never tell if the Friday night kids playing in their fathers cars, drunks driving, a full moon or what is happening. Probably a component of all three.

I did get to meet a character named Jose at a gas station yesterday, he started telling me about his bike, a Gixer, and when he asked how long I had been riding and when I told him he almost fell over. He then said I would likely walk like I had been raped at the end of the trip, as he had done after three days riding horses in Mexico. He also mentioned that he was going to have to learn to keep it in his pants, as hid kids are scattered all over the place now, and it is getting expensive to go see them. Finally we discussed problems with fhis transmission, and if it were not under warrantee, he would have done a Mexican repair, and just downgraded it to two wheel drive. All in all, he was a lot of fun.

I did notice in the past that after you go a certain amount to the west, the high test fuel drops from 93 Octane to 91 Octane I seem to recall when I was in the middle of nowhere last year that it dropped even lower. The breaking point on the return this year was just past St. Louis. If anyone knows why that happens, please let me know :)

It seems to me like it is time to load up the Bapper one last time, and burn out the 750 miles to home.

Take Care

Brian

OK, just writing this superfast to say that I have survived another day :) I plan to make it home a day early so will write more info then.

Today saw something like 750 miles pass underneath me, I am all business now, no stopping and thinking, no smelling the roses, just jamming out the mileage.

Brian

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

Bapper_at_Casa_Bonita

Originally uploaded by thekidfromcrumlin

Since I started loading up the Bapper for the final big push across the country, I have felt less and less as if I am on vacation, it is time to go home. Arlington has felt more like home each year I have lived there, and I suspect this next 12 months will really cement that in my mind.

I did make it to the very wonderful Casa Bonita today, it was all that SouthPark talked it up to be, I can see why Cartman tried to convince Butters that the world had come to an end, so he could go there.
All had told me the food there is really bad and to instead just get a drink, the management there have a strong way to work around this, rather then address the quality of the food, they just set a rule that you have to order a meal before you get into the dining room were all the action is.
I also had the chance to check out the Coors brewery (from the street) as well as the final resting place of Alfred Packer, a key for all Cannibal and musical fans. Finally I got some nice riding time in the mountains, unfortunately as it was dark and stormy I did not get as nice a view of the Rockies as I had hoped for, but there was some wonderful riding.

On the bike front my little tire pressure monitoring devices (firefly’s) had started chirping around the time I got to Denver, when I checked the pressure both tires were in the 20’s instead of 38 and 42, so that is sorted now. I also took this as a warning and purchased a real flat repair kit, in addition to a pump that will run off the bike accessory socket. Hopefully that is a waste of $150 and I never have to look at a tire again.

It is sad saying goodbye to my wonderful hosts Justin and Emily, after being here for three days it still seems too soon to go. But the road is calling my name, and I have to eat up 800 miles tomorrow, so I will finish loading up, put my laundry in the drier and try and get some sleep prior to tomorrows 4am start..
My time in Denver has easily 10x my booze intake for this trip, not to mention 10x my bad food intake, so from that standpoint it will be nice to get back on the road.

Riding today gave me a chance to do some thinking, looking at the billboards I think you can really tell what advertisers think of people in different parts of this huge and diverse country. In Michigan I saw signs of impeccably dressed marines with swords calling on pride to join the few, the proud. In Gillette Wyoming I saw a billboard of a woman with a blackened eye, and lots of writing in English saying that being abused by yours spouse is not acceptable. Oddly however the board also had written on it in Spanish, “We speak Spanish”. Without the context of the rest of the board, I wonder how a non English speaker would interpret the image and the fact that they speak Spanish.

Anyway, I am tired, and am hoping for at least one REM cycle before tomorrow.

Be safe

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