1month = 1 Back tire (10,872 miles)
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08-29-2005, 07:55 PM
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1month = 1 Back tire (10,872 miles)
Well - I finally finished the "retirement ride" and made it back to work. While at my Mom and Dad's, I had given my Mom a ride. It took 2-3 ironings on my shirt, to get her hand prints out of the shirt, but after a few miles, my 67 y/o Mom was kicked back and having a good time. I left out of Baton Rouge, headed east - no real destination in particular. I ended up going to Pensacola, and then headed N to Ft. Benning to see some old buddies. I was able to link up w/ an old Ranger buddy of mine and ended up spending the night at his house. He had recently become a widower, and I felt obligated, due to him helping me through some rought times several years ago. It had been over 10 yrs, and it was good to catch up on things. Left out of there, and headed to NC to see a girl that I've known since junior high. Stayed at her house that night. While in this part of the country, I remembered what I missed about being in the south - NOTHING!! The humidity was killing me - it was about 95 deg, w/ 90% humidity. Hands sweating [sm=headbang.gif]- the whole deal! What a pain!!
The next morning left from her house, rode to VA, then decided to turn around and head through the Smokey Mtns. I stopped at the Hickory, NC HD shop (good bunch of people - matter of fact, better than most shops that I stopped at!) They said as long as I was in the neighborhood, I should ride this thing called the "Tail of the Dragon". OMG [sm=jawdrop.gif] That was unreal!! Had I not had 3000 miles left to ride, it might could have been a little more fun - but, they say w/ age comes wisdom, and this time I listened! (FTR - 2 people died w/in a 2 wks of me going there, and another one about a week after I left!)
I stopped in Indiana, and got a room for the night. Met up w/ some guys from PA that were headed to Sturgis. One of the guys bought his 1st HD 61 years ago! He was 77 y/o and riding a RK. I hope that I'm still breathing at 77!! I rode w/ them to a place in Canistota, SD (little 3 block town, w/ a stop sign in the middle of the road). The next morning, we headed towards Sturgis, w/ a trip through Badlands and Wall, enroute. This was a first for me in this area, and these guys were great as tour guides! They let me stop when I wanted to take pictures and such. We made it Sturgis that night. It took us about 2 hours to go the whole length of the town. What a traffic jam!![:@] The next morning we tried to make it Mt Rushmore, but the weather was pretty nasty, so we came back and hit the Full Throttle, which was across the road. The next morning, I went solo to Mt. Rushmore, while they went to the Devil's Tower.
For me, this was unreal. I'd always wanted to see this area, and I was not disappointed! I stopped in Sturgis that night, and walked through town. All in all, it reminded me of going to the state fair, w/ leather and chrome involved, instead of carnies trying to get you to try some game of luck. Oh well - then again, I'm not too much of a large crowd person.
The next morning, I got up, said my good byes, and headed west to catch the ferry in Bellingham, WA, by 1600 the following day. This ride was mainly just pounding miles (1400/2 days). If I missed the ferry, I would have to do the ALCAN again, and for me, once was enough. In retrospect, I would do another 10,000 miles, to keep from driving through Seattle!! There was a sign that said "Road construction next 7 miles". It took almost an hour to cover this distance. At the end of it, I looked back, and didn't even see a SHOVEL on the side of the road!![sm=badbadbad.gif]. I caught the ferry on the 12th, and got off in Juneau on the 15th. There were a bunch of people that were taking it to Haines, then getting off to ride around AK, then take the ALCAN back. Personally, I didn't care to ride it again, so I stayed in Juneau 1.5 days, then took the next ferry to Valdez, where the AK pipeline ends. From there, I rode back to the house, w/ a guy that
The next morning left from her house, rode to VA, then decided to turn around and head through the Smokey Mtns. I stopped at the Hickory, NC HD shop (good bunch of people - matter of fact, better than most shops that I stopped at!) They said as long as I was in the neighborhood, I should ride this thing called the "Tail of the Dragon". OMG [sm=jawdrop.gif] That was unreal!! Had I not had 3000 miles left to ride, it might could have been a little more fun - but, they say w/ age comes wisdom, and this time I listened! (FTR - 2 people died w/in a 2 wks of me going there, and another one about a week after I left!)
I stopped in Indiana, and got a room for the night. Met up w/ some guys from PA that were headed to Sturgis. One of the guys bought his 1st HD 61 years ago! He was 77 y/o and riding a RK. I hope that I'm still breathing at 77!! I rode w/ them to a place in Canistota, SD (little 3 block town, w/ a stop sign in the middle of the road). The next morning, we headed towards Sturgis, w/ a trip through Badlands and Wall, enroute. This was a first for me in this area, and these guys were great as tour guides! They let me stop when I wanted to take pictures and such. We made it Sturgis that night. It took us about 2 hours to go the whole length of the town. What a traffic jam!![:@] The next morning we tried to make it Mt Rushmore, but the weather was pretty nasty, so we came back and hit the Full Throttle, which was across the road. The next morning, I went solo to Mt. Rushmore, while they went to the Devil's Tower.
For me, this was unreal. I'd always wanted to see this area, and I was not disappointed! I stopped in Sturgis that night, and walked through town. All in all, it reminded me of going to the state fair, w/ leather and chrome involved, instead of carnies trying to get you to try some game of luck. Oh well - then again, I'm not too much of a large crowd person.
The next morning, I got up, said my good byes, and headed west to catch the ferry in Bellingham, WA, by 1600 the following day. This ride was mainly just pounding miles (1400/2 days). If I missed the ferry, I would have to do the ALCAN again, and for me, once was enough. In retrospect, I would do another 10,000 miles, to keep from driving through Seattle!! There was a sign that said "Road construction next 7 miles". It took almost an hour to cover this distance. At the end of it, I looked back, and didn't even see a SHOVEL on the side of the road!![sm=badbadbad.gif]. I caught the ferry on the 12th, and got off in Juneau on the 15th. There were a bunch of people that were taking it to Haines, then getting off to ride around AK, then take the ALCAN back. Personally, I didn't care to ride it again, so I stayed in Juneau 1.5 days, then took the next ferry to Valdez, where the AK pipeline ends. From there, I rode back to the house, w/ a guy that
#2
08-29-2005, 08:05 PM
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08-29-2005, 08:50 PM
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08-29-2005, 09:30 PM
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RE: 1month = 1 Back tire (10,872 miles)
Yeah - it was a long time in coming, but all in all is was worth it. All total, it was 23 states and 3 different provinces (or whatever they call them) of Canada. When I would see people on the road, and get to talking to them, they would want to know who I was riding w/. When I said "No one", it would blow their minds! They couldn't believe that someone would go this far and for this long, by themselves. Personally, I preferred it, because I could stop/go whenever/where ever I wished. I would basically leave a 5 pt contingency with the last friends house that I stopped at, then at the next stop, I would call them and let them know I was ok.
I have yet to total up the gas receipts - something tells me, that that's going to be a shocker! While at Sturgis, I told someone that I had traveled over 9K getting there. He said that was impossible, due to the US being only 3K wide. After explaining the path that I had taken, all he could say was "Oh!"[
]
Mike
RLTW
I have yet to total up the gas receipts - something tells me, that that's going to be a shocker! While at Sturgis, I told someone that I had traveled over 9K getting there. He said that was impossible, due to the US being only 3K wide. After explaining the path that I had taken, all he could say was "Oh!"[
]Mike
RLTW
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08-30-2005, 12:51 AM
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08-30-2005, 12:57 AM
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RE: 1month = 1 Back tire (10,872 miles)
ORIGINAL: flhshvlhed
Yeah - it was a long time in coming, but all in all is was worth it. All total, it was 23 states and 3 different provinces (or whatever they call them) of Canada. When I would see people on the road, and get to talking to them, they would want to know who I was riding w/. When I said "No one", it would blow their minds! They couldn't believe that someone would go this far and for this long, by themselves. Personally, I preferred it, because I could stop/go whenever/where ever I wished. I would basically leave a 5 pt contingency with the last friends house that I stopped at, then at the next stop, I would call them and let them know I was ok.
I have yet to total up the gas receipts - something tells me, that that's going to be a shocker! While at Sturgis, I told someone that I had traveled over 9K getting there. He said that was impossible, due to the US being only 3K wide. After explaining the path that I had taken, all he could say was "Oh!"[]
Mike
RLTW
Yeah - it was a long time in coming, but all in all is was worth it. All total, it was 23 states and 3 different provinces (or whatever they call them) of Canada. When I would see people on the road, and get to talking to them, they would want to know who I was riding w/. When I said "No one", it would blow their minds! They couldn't believe that someone would go this far and for this long, by themselves. Personally, I preferred it, because I could stop/go whenever/where ever I wished. I would basically leave a 5 pt contingency with the last friends house that I stopped at, then at the next stop, I would call them and let them know I was ok.
I have yet to total up the gas receipts - something tells me, that that's going to be a shocker! While at Sturgis, I told someone that I had traveled over 9K getting there. He said that was impossible, due to the US being only 3K wide. After explaining the path that I had taken, all he could say was "Oh!"[
]Mike
RLTW
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08-31-2005, 12:43 AM
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RE: 1month = 1 Back tire (10,872 miles)
LOL- yeah I've been single now for about 12 years, and raising my daughter for the past 10. So, I haven't really had that "significant other" issue. During the summer when my little girl visits her mother, is about the only time that I'm able to do things like this. I would have taken even more leave, but I had to return on 18 Aug, to be in Atlanta on 21 Aug for a meeting for work [:@].
I was looking at my little map of the US, and I still have the NE area to go through, and the SW/W area to go through. This trip was pretty much a spur of the moment deal, with most things falling into place at that time. I wish that I spent more time in several of the states, and got to see more of the attractions. Oh well - there's always the "next" trip.
Hmm - seems to me I've seen guys ride from the tip of S. America up to AK - maybe I can do the dyslexic version? [sm=smiley20.gif]
I had some pictures that I was going to down load on this, but in my computer blonde moment, I inadvertently erased them[sm=badbadbad.gif]. I was pretty PO'd about that - oh well - I'll have to find some more, and use them instead. Hopefully these will work.
Mike
RLTW
I was looking at my little map of the US, and I still have the NE area to go through, and the SW/W area to go through. This trip was pretty much a spur of the moment deal, with most things falling into place at that time. I wish that I spent more time in several of the states, and got to see more of the attractions. Oh well - there's always the "next" trip.
Hmm - seems to me I've seen guys ride from the tip of S. America up to AK - maybe I can do the dyslexic version? [sm=smiley20.gif]
I had some pictures that I was going to down load on this, but in my computer blonde moment, I inadvertently erased them[sm=badbadbad.gif]. I was pretty PO'd about that - oh well - I'll have to find some more, and use them instead. Hopefully these will work.
Mike
RLTW