1733 miles and six State ride.

Started by don_vanecek, September 19, 2012, 01:36:10 AM

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don_vanecek

Well gang, I am back from my trip, so here is a short narrative of the trip, some of this narrative will go to a second or third page so I can post some pictures, I really don't have very many still pictures as most of my pictures are on video.  Left Blair, NE on the 8th and headed to my son's place in Minneapolis, went up the NE side to Sioux City then 60 to 169, it was basically a pretty nice ride except for somewhat brisk winds from the south, at this time of the ride I was by myself, I would join my son in law on his Kawasaki Vulcan on Monday. After spending Sunday in MN, I left about mid day to meet my son in law in LaCrosse, WI later in the day, he would be driving all the way across Iowa that day.

I had only one problem leaving MN on Monday, the access ramp for me to get on 494 East was closed!!  Not sure how far the posted detour would have taken out of the way, hate driving though big cities-but it would get worse in Saint Louis. I got across the river into WI and down 35, now this section of rode was perhaps the best ride of the entire trip-I would recommend it. I ended waiting for my son in law for about two hours due to construction he ran into.  I was in a park by the river and the weather was real nice so I wasn't complaining, only problem is I couldn't really leave the bike, a disadvantage of MC travel. Here is a picture of myself and our bikes getting ready to leave Fort McCoy on Tuesday morning.  I believe the streak of sunlight you see in the picture is from my guardian angel, I had no mechanical problems and no close calls.   

don_vanecek

Moving on, on Tuesday morning we left for Barrington, IL (NW of the Chicago metro area).  Now here we had the fun of navigating off the usual interstates and trying to use two lane roads only-but we did not have a navigating devise.  The map pocket on the tank bag I borrowed was too close to me to easily read when moving at 65 mph, it is sort of a small miracle we did not get lost.  I was the chief navigator and basically I would write out on a sheet of paper my highway numbers the night before.  We stayed with my son in laws brother who gave us a rice on the Fox River in his speedboat, you know 50 mph on the water feels very fast! On Wednesday we rented a Van (same price as a car that day) as my son in law, a Navy recruiter, wanted to visit his next duty station in Forrest Park, we then went down to the lake, parked the Van, and made one of our mistakes. When we left the lake at four PM, I290 was already bumper to pumper traffic, it took us an hour to get there, 2 and 1/2 hours to return!

Thurdays, we wanted to stay off interstates, but wow, is it EVER a pain going south along the west side of Chicago, it took us so darn long to finally get totally out of the Chicago area we broke our rule about staying off interstates and took I72 and I55 the rest of the way down to Scott AFB east of Saint Louis.  We also had fun that day chasing a cold front most of the day, finally somewhere 20 or 30 miles north of St Louis we ran out of it and experienced a good ten degree temperature increase, it was really noticeable on a MC.  Now, don't get me wrong, the Vision and the Vulcan can run the interstates just fine, often going 75-80 mph, it's just not my cup of tea, I don't care for the extra tension of traveling on interstates, you can't  just pull over most anytime, you don't see the county side the same as when you are on a two lane road.

Well, the cold front caught up to us that evening and the morning rain had just gone south of us as we got ready to leave. As the streets were still wet we put on our rain gear and proceeded across the river on I64, but we had a surprize waiting for us.  Because of road construction, I64 accross the river was jammed, and I mean jammed for several miles, we would go forward 20 feet, stop, do it time after time, it was not raining and we were getting hot in our rain suits, the bikes were running hot, it was not a fun time.  I'm happy to say that neither bike complained, our fans came on, I did not vapor lock-I was sure worried I would!

We took I70 about two thirds the way accross MO and then got off on on non interstate roads the rest of the way to Kansas City where on Sunday I would meet these two guys..........

don_vanecek

Well it is now Saturday the 15th, I started that day out with a ride in my brother's 1967 Cessna 172, he recently had it repainted and it sure looks nice now. We flew to an airport by Saint Joseph MO for a breakfast fly in a club he belongs to was having, on the way back I flew with one of the other club members in a restored 1952 Cessna 195, most interesting!

The picture on the last post is on the left, Jeff Swan, on the right his friend Wes.  The black unique Vision belongs to Wes, Jeff rode his Kawasaki. Jeff met me at my son's house Sunday morning, we had breakfast, then met Wes.  I have only a vague idea where these two took me, I know we crossed the river twice, we also went by the federal pen in Leavenworth Kansas, we did about 100  miles in two hours, it was a really nice morning for riding.  I doubt you can see in the picture but Wes has adopted I believe it was carbs from a V max to his
Vision, he says he does not quite have it all sorted out yet.  We ended  up at Jeff's house where I took the picture of the Vision he used to race. 

Monday back to Blair, NE, ran into a cold front about half way home, temperature got down to 54 plus had wet roads to deal with, I did not enjoy my last two hours in the saddle very much. 

Well, in conclusion, my Vision ran great, only problem I had was the mirror I had purchase turned out to be a bummer, otherwise not a darn problem.  I did not keep tract of my exact MPG, I'm sure I always got 40 or more, found it interesting that running the interstates at 75+ did not seem to matter any.  I asked Jeff and Wes about my tick, tick engine sound and they think I need to look at the key that holds the balancer gear on, gosh I do not look forward to pulling my fly wheel off again to check that possibility out! 

jefferson

Hi Don,

Good to see you made it back good and safe. I just now saw your post. I wasn't thinking and hadn't seen anything from you in the sections I normally read and then found it here. Pretty good amount of miles you racked up. Glad we got the time to visit and enjoyed the ride. We still have to go to John's, but the way it is looking it may be next year.

Keep them rolling,
Jeff

don_vanecek

Thanks Jeff, yes, looks like next year to see John.  I did take the V to my VJMC meeting yesterday, (10-07-2012) but don't expect it will get much more use this year. Say, at our meeting the VJMC Kansas City club put on quite a show in your area last July at some place that also has a large farmers market-let you know if I learn more about the 2013 show.

We will plan to see you next year John!

Fuzzlewump

Up late and reading through older posts when I saw this one. Nice ride you had! Six states on a motorcycle, two plane rides and a boat ride to boot- good times, from the sound of it.

When my Vision is up and running solid, I'll be taking extended trips throughout the Southwest every chance I get. It's nice to know that a finely-tuned V can make such long trips without a hitch. Also cool to hear the details of your particular route, and it sounds like you guys had a nice ride. Thanks for an interesting read, Don!

Know ye not that ye are a gremlin?? Thou hast no quarter here- flee now from me!!