Joe Friday goes to Minnesota-dragnet on a Vision

[don_vanecek]

The story you are about to read is true, well, from a certain point of view anyway. Nothing has been changed to protect the innocent; hopefully it will be enjoyable to most who may read it.

It was Friday, July 7th, my name is Friday also-but it’s just a coincidence, my partners name is Frank, he’s really my older brother but he’s not here, he’s not even part of this story, but he’s ridden my Vision, he always tells me how smooth it is, and I always take a big sigh of relief that he didn’t wreck the bike, he drives it about once a year.

I wasn’t even working; I was on vocation time, I was going to take a trip, a nice long ride on the Vision. I was going from Nebraska to Minnesota.  One of my son’s is in MN, he was in downtown Minneapolis, so that was the excuse to get out and ride.

But before I go on my ride there is another story, the Sunday before. I was giving the Vision a good once over; I messed with the carbs, put some cleaning stuff in em, put my vacuum gages on, put my hand over the tops, what ever I did before I knew it, the front cylinder no longer worked. I panicked, what could I have done to a perfectly running bike? I read posts on the forum, I cut a wire, and I took the battery out all to no avail. I was sort of glad for all the trouble however as I also found that my stator to RR connector had melted a little, time to solder (is that spelled right?).  Tuesday, put in two new plugs, bike started and ran perfect-I had apparently messed up a plug (two new ones were a good idea anyway!)

So back to the ride, I left the house about 9:30, it was a windy day, the wind however was from the south, I was going mostly north, I smiled. I headed up highway 75 to a town called Decatur, there is a toll bridge there, it was my first stop of the morning, I paid the man 75 cents. The toll bridge however is one of those all metal slot items, man that is scary to drive over, two blocks of hell. I then hit I-29, the speed limit is now 70, wow, 6600 rpm or so, I didn’t really like driving at that speed, it takes too much concentration, the Vision didn’t care, it just hummed along.  After Sioux City most of my speed limits were 65, about six grand, I know its only a 5 mph difference but it’s a nicer speed to travel, the Vision didn’t care, it hummed along. Made my first gas stop in Le Mars, IA at 104 miles. At home I usually need about three gallons by now, I almost overfilled the tank, it only took a little over two, I know I was getting great mileage, thank you south wind! This was the first of three planned stops; the stops were really more for me then the Vision. I can’t say that the seat bothered me, but after about a hundred miles or so the back of my neck starts to hurt, to help with this problem I took out a tube of Ben Gay and rubbed it in-it helped somewhat, it would be more of a problem on the way back.

If I could control the weather I would pick a windless day to ride. Sometimes I had that nice wind right at my back and I would hardly need any throttle, other times it blew me at the side and required a lot more concentration. The Vision didn’t care, it just hummed along.

I guess if you were to ask me what part of the trip was scenic, and not just cornfields and towns, I would have to vote for the area north of the Minnesota town of St. Peter where the road follows a river valley and the hills on one side of the road are all tree covered. Ask me for any curvy fun roads, well there were one or two freeway entrance ramps! Both Iowa and Minnesota do not have mandatory helmet laws. I thought it was interesting that bike guys on the Harleys with sleeveless shirts and no helmets almost never gave you a wave, riders on other brands with riding gear almost always gave a wave back, does this mean something????

Into Minneapolis the riding was no longer great fun. The traffic was getting heavy and I had a slight problem with the directions from my kid, there is no I-94 south, I was now sort of lost. Thank goodness however that I had some since of direction and about 4:30 I found his apartment building, I had traveled about 350 miles in seven hours or so, the Vision never uttered a single note of complaint.

With the Vision safely parked, my boy and I had a great weekend! We walked a lot of miles in downtown Minneapolis, we watched a boat go through the lock, went to a musical on a showboat, rode the commuter train to the mall, and last, only 20 minutes from his downtown apartment, swam in a beautiful lake where the water was still clear enough to see your feet in six feet of water, we don’t have lakes like that in NE!

It was now Monday, time to go home. Gassed up, put a few new pounds of air in the rear tire, said good byes and on to the interstate. The weather was cool and had perhaps a slight wind from the north, I was going south, I smiled again. It took about 15 miles before the traffic thinned out; man was the riding ever nice that morning. One thing the engineers did right on our Vision’s is that counter balancer, that engine is so wonderfully smooth. I missed my first planned gas stop and instead cranked up 145 miles before I stopped, I only took on three gallons! After that first stop I had about a 25-mile period where you just sort of get in a bubble-no cars a mile in front or a mile behind me, the road all to myself, it was great well almost! The back of neck was now even more uncomfortable than it was on the way up. This led me to a non-gas up stop somewhere about the MN, IA border. I saw a Yamaha dealer and thought heck I’ll look in the show room for a few minutes while my body recovers. Never did get to the show room, a young salesman came out from somewhere, he had never seen a Vision before-didn’t even know they existed, he was impressed! Before I left he told me, “Joe, be careful out there, we just had two bike fatalities this week end, one was a young man I had just seen at five on Friday, he got reckless, he’s now dead”. With his rather sober advise, I found myself sometimes pacing a car that I figured had their cruise on-the Vision was running so darn good, that method helped me keep my speed down, otherwise I wanted to pass everything on the road.

In Sioux City again this time I voted to both stay off the interstate and to avoid the toll bridge, even though the new route my add a few miles and minutes of time. Back on the NE side of the river I had my only pass of the whole trip that needed me to downshift once as I went around a semi. The old Vision just wailed on by, didn’t even need to touch 80 and I was around it. All the rest of the trip 5th gear gave me all the power I needed, lovely engine!  Let me say a word about the ride however, the Vision is sort of like my little Dodge Neon, short wheelbase, somewhat stiff suspension. sometimes you get on a poorly built road and you wish for a longer wheelbase as you feel all the dips.

South of Winnebago, NE the road is hilly and rather scenic. Then about 30 miles from home, I ran into a light rain. As I have no lowers, the front of my jeans got wet, I didn’t want to stop anymore this close to home and put my rain suit on, I didn’t care about the wetness. Gee I hate driving the Vision in a rain, the hot engine and pipes really bake the road spray on! By the way most of the area I traveled though needs rain badly, and this rain wasn’t amounting to anything. I did my last gas up in Tekamah, more just to get off for a few minutes then I needed the gas, I was only 13 miles from home.

I covered 676 miles and used 14.158 gallons of gas, for 47.7 mpg. The Vision never gave me a second of trouble, but then that’s to be expected, it’s one of the finest mid size engines ever put between two wheels!

[h2olawyer]

Great story, don!  Enjoyed every word.  Glad you had such a good weekend.  Seeing family is great, but being able to make the trip on a Vision makes it even better!   ;D 8)

H₂O

[Night Vision]

may all your rides be so pleasant  :)

[Tiger]

may all your rides be so pleasant  :)

May ALL our ride's be so good.....nice one Friday...errrr..I mean Don ;D :D  8)

[glennw]

Thursday 19:54...
I was working the V watch out of the West Valley division....
Excellent Don...
I met Jack Webb and grew up around the LAPD.. good job!
GlennW