Day 1 of the actual trip

Well, there I am cruising along, not a care in the world (except for the pain in my wrist, and the itchy scratching on the surface of my butt, and the bad quality of the Bach music coming from my headset, but other than that, things were fine) and what do I see ahead of me but big black rain clouds.

I also see a sign for camping at the next exit so I wheel off thinking I have three choices. I can put my rain gear on and continue on into the "Perfect Storm", I can see about finding that camping place and set up my tent and wait for the "Perfect Storm", or lastly I can check out the Rock Port Motel to see if they have a cheap room for me.

So being the beast I am, I suited up for the rain and just rode on through it (LIKE HELL! ) I'm now setting in my room drinking a chocolate shake from Mikie Dees and writing up my emails.

I no sooner got my room, got the bike parked and unloaded all my stuff from the bike and this storm of the century came down on Rock Port like it was the birth place of Noah. I never saw so much rain come down at one time. Funny thing though, it only lasted for twenty minutes or so and then the sun came out again. So I headed for McDonald's to get something to eat. While waiting for my food, a guy started talking to me telling me he just came through Columbia, Missouri and he was following four Harley riders and a truck was in front of them and threw a tire (Damn those retreads anyway ! !). He said the tire went through the windshield of one of the Harleys and knocked the guy completely off the bike. He said he didn't think the guy was too badly hurt as he started moving around pretty shortly. That was one lucky Harley rider. 

Then when I got back to the motel, a guy on a Goldwing was just arriving back from eating also and he happened to have the room right next to mine. I asked him where he was from and he said "Fairbanks". Now I ask you, is that weird or what? Here I am on my motorcycle on my way to Fairbanks and the guy right next door to me is on his motorcycle and is on the way to Virginia from Fairbanks. Too strange. Like something from a Stephen King novel. I swear I heard the little dolls singing "It's a small small world".

ANNNNDDD, it turns out that he is a truck driver on the Dalton Highway. He's spent the last twelve years or so running from Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay and back. Just too coincidental for real life. 

OK, here's what I learned today. Wind is bad! Especially when it is a very strong wind. It's really hard to go in a straight line when the wind is blowing you all over the place. From home to around Clinton, the wind was really bad on the highway. After that things were better.

I also learned I don't like this tank bag. The bag is great but I have to practically dismount it to refuel. That is a pain for sure. There is just no easy way to get fuel in the bike with that particular bag on it. It's a PacSafe Tank Safe bag. The problem is really with my "barbacks". Without them on the bike, I think the bag would work fine. But the barbacks stay!! They give me a more "upright" riding position. I got the tank safe because it has the ability to lock the bag and also lock the bag to the bike. Most bags won't lock to the bike. Oh yeah, when I make a sharp turn to the left, like in a parking lot, the bag causes the horn to blow. How embarrassing.

I also learned that I really, really, really, really want a cruise control for my bike. I will have one before the trip with Lyle next year too. My wrist gets kind of tired after twisting that throttle for hours at a time. 

I also learned I have to be careful about where I put the big waterproof bag on the back. When I first started out from home, I hadn't gone very far at all and my butt was hurting. I couldn't figure out why because I've been riding that bike for a while now and haven't had any problems at all. I finally figured out that the problem was the big bag on the back was encroaching on my "butt space". It wasn't causing any of the pain but it was causing me to sit on the bike seat just a little differently than I would if it wasn't there. So I stopped, took everything off and moved it all a little further to the rear of the bike and jumped on and headed back on the road. Now everything was fine. Live and learn.

I also learned that a small package of jerky (Lyle made some spicy hamburger jerky) doesn't last very long. It's almost gone and I've only been gone one day. Must have him make bigger lots from now on. Maybe he should build a plant down by the pond!

Oh, the guy from Fairbanks said he must have seen a hundred of the BMW GSes  like mine on the way down here from Fairbanks. He said he saw more of those then anything else. 

My hotel is so "upscale" it doesn't come with wi-fi so I'm going to try to send this from McDees tomorrow. If not, it will have to wait until I can find a hot spot.

Harry