I Just Felt Like Riding

[BikerGeek99]

I Just Felt Like Riding

But you gotta say it like Forrest Gump.

Recap:
2015 was a helluva year for me and Sooze. After having been unemployed for 15 months from late 2013 and all of 2014, I got a job that had me traveling. A LOT. I changed employers and stopped traveling so much. And, in the meantime, we bought a house and moved. In a nutshell, 2015 was my lowest riding mileage year in at least a decade. So, two employers, buying a house, moving, blah blah blah… Adulting sucks sometimes.

And work stress has been at a very elevated level for quite a while. Some people thrive on that shit, and then there’s me.

So, yeah - I really did just feel like riding.

Best of all? Aboot two months before we were scheduled to leave for this little adventure, I, in a fit of incredible heroism, managed to sprain my right cankle and break a bone in my right foot whilst saving a group of nuns and children from a rabid shark.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. (OK, the reality is NOWHERE near that cool, but I’m still sticking to that story. JSNS)

One of our goals for this trip was to bag more ‘states ridden’ for the map in our mudroom. Together, we’d hit 42 states since we got together in late 2007. In the lower 48, our remaining states are Rhode Island, Nebraska, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.



So, as departure approached, I’ve been a puddle of stress for too damn long, my cankle and foot are questionable, I hadn’t even looked at the FJR for over two damn months… Would it start? Would my right cankle and foot be able to hold up a fully loaded, 2-up FJR? My mind was loaded with doubt aboot this trip.

But, damn it, I just felt like riding. Time to see what happens…

Oh – you’re probably wondering where the hell we’re going. We’re headed to NAFO, in Montrose, Colorado.


Day of Departure. Tuesday, July 26, 2016. After work-ish.

The night before, I was able to verify that the FJR would start (Hooray!) and everything else looked OK. Luckily, I had changed the erl the last time I rode it, so I was somewhat less worried at that point.

We had packed and organized most of our crap so all we really had to do was just load up and head out. Mere moments before departure…



This is what a lot of ‘scenery’ is for us. Corn. Lots and lots of corn.



That scenery would be changing significantly over the next couple of days.

As we were heading out from Central Ohio, it was warm and humid and a small pop-up shower was chasing us. And pissing me off.



There are 88 counties in the state of Ohio. Ohio’s bicentennial was back in 2003. There is one barn in each county that is painted to celebrate that event. Here is one of them.



Not a whole lot to say aboot this, really. We just slabbed it through Indianapolis – OK, quick comment here. Sooze and I have ridden through Indianapolis prolly 10 or 12 times. Every damn time but 1 or 2? It was raining if not utterly pouring. This trip through? Holy shinola – it didn’t rain on us! Something just ain’t right…



We had a hotel in Terre Haute, IN. We had stayed here before and knew what to expect. We rolled in just after dusk, dropped our bags in our room, and walked to TGI Friday’s for dinner. Yeah, yeah – we don’t normally go to chain restaurants that we have at home, but we were tired and hungry, and it was walking distance, and we hadn’t been to TGI Friday’s in we-don’t-remember-how-long-ago, so screw it.

248 miles this evening. I had the rib special and they had a surprisingly good craft beer list.



So far, my cankle and foot were holding up fine. Only 1200 more miles to Montrose to tackle in two days. What’s the worst that could happen?

 

[Bungie]

Cool. I didn't know that about the Centennial barns. Learn something new everyday.

 

[thompsonian]

Only 1200 more miles to Montrose to tackle in two days. What’s the worst that could happen?

Dear Lord help us all......

 

[BikerGeek99]

Wednesday, July 27, 2016. Our first full day on the road.


Due to time constraints (or, a finite amount of vacation allotted by our employers), we would be on the slab a lot this trip. Way more than either of us wanted, but that’s just how shit rolls sometimes, ya know?

We got up and on the road fairly early for us. On the road, we hit Illinois soon after departure.



Approaching St. Louis, we had been eyeballing the skies. There was rain in the area and we saw some wet pavement, but never really hit any rain. At a gas stop / hydration stop (this will be a very common thing for this trip) / bio break, this was in the convenience store. It made us chuckle, after having visited the SPAM museum in Minnesota a couple of years ago.



In St. Louis, you can see that the skies were threatening in this picture of the arch.






We didn’t really get close to the arch and didn’t really have time to spare to get close. Maybe on the return trip we’ll get close…



Not much to report on between St. Louis and Kansas City.

A muddy river.



It was definitely getting warmer. The sun was warm and it was humid.



Rolling in to KC.



And then – hooray, Kansas!



I haven’t been all the way across Kansas since 1995. All I really remember was it was incredibly flat and straight, and REALLY hot. We were both kinda surprised how green Kansas was, and the rolling hills. Who’da thunk?



The Oz Winery. Looks like someone is cashing in on a certain movie, eh?



Going through Junction City, Kansas, we rolled past Fort Riley, home of the 1st Infantry Division.



It’s a pretty big place.



And then, you know. Kansas.



No surprise seeing lots of wind turbines out there.



For the night, we stayed in Salina, Kansas. It was aboot 600 very warm miles that day. Our hotel wasn’t really in walking distance to anything, so we decided to take a cab into town to a decent-sounding restaurant. That cabbie was WEEEEIIIIRRRRDDDD! The stage was set when, on the cab doors, it said “NO SMOKING” and when we got in, it smelled like an ash tray. Our cabbie was the most non-talkative cabbie I’ve ever had. When I tried to strike up a conversation with him, he looked abjectly terrified. It was just an odd vibe and odd experience.

The meal was good, though.

I had Buffalo Sweat to drink.



And a steak kabob, with BACON wrapped grilled shwimps and veggie swekers.



Best of all? Thanks to a gal working at our hotel, we showed ‘em our room key and get a free dessert! YUM!



Plenty more to come…

 

[Niehart]

LIKE

 

[El Toro Joe]

Great RR so far Andy...looking forward to the rest of the story.

 

[BikerGeek99]

Thursday, Just 28, 2016. The push to Montrose.

I suck at dealing with time changes. Going across multiple time zones… Well, I knew it was gonna screw me up, but at least it wasn’t a surprise.

We were on the road again fairly early. Sooze didn’t really take any pictures because, for the most part, there wasn’t anything to take pictures of. Because, you know. Kansas.

Rolling across I70, with a 75 mile per hour speed limit, I was keeping my own pace. Every now and then, though, someone would roll past at a higher speed. Because, you know. Kansas. I tended to slide in behind ‘em and let them be my bird dog. So, to say the least, we made “good time” for many miles across Kansas.

Following those other folks would turn out to be a very fortunate thing.

As I was tailing my third bird dog of the day, and by far the fastest of them, I noticed that the wind had picked up outta the south.

Hmm… OK. Gotta keep an eye on this.

A while later, the wind changed and was now outta the north.

Uh-oh. I know what that means.

We were fast approaching Colorado, and this was the sky to the north / northwest.



The wind gusts were getting pretty strong, so I backed off and let my bird dog go. Passing a particular 18-wheeler was rather “interesting,” but we made it through.

The sky to the north continued to get gnarly looking.



It was a race against that storm. I think we missed that storm by, literally, minutes. That woulda sucked on the bike. But, just as we rolled into Colorado, we came out of it.



Hooray! State #43 we’ve ridden in together!

One thing I remember from my trip out here in 1995 was a cool rest area / Colorado welcome center. We pulled in and spied a good selfie-op.



There was even a musem-thing here. We didn’t stop – we still had quite a ways to go.






“The Wonder Tower.” See Six States! Well, if it were open. Looks like it’s currently closed but may be re-opened at some point.



Generally speaking, we were making good time. But when you think, “Colorado,” this prolly isn’t what comes to mind.



Or this.



Or this.



You get the idea.



But, eastern Colorado is kinda like Kansas Continued. Go figure.

We were off I70 by now, rolling on US24 towards Colorado Springs. At one of our gas stops / hydration stops / snack stops / bio break stops, a couple rolled in on his and hers Harleys. They pulled up next to us and – whattaya know! They had Ohio plates! Turns out they’re from the Cincinnati area and had been where we’re headed. They were nice folks (she was more chatty than he was) and we had a nice little chat.


It was a beautiful, warm day, and the mountains came in to view.



And then … We rolled in to Colorado Springs.

What. An. Epic. Cluster. Of. F’s.

Route 24 is kind of a main road into / through Colorado Springs. Traffic suddenly came to a stop in all lanes, and holy schnikes was it warm. Traffic was backed up for aboot 3 ½ miles. Route 24 was closed for construction. There was no warning, no signage in advance, no detour signs… Nothing. I was getting kinda pissed off, hot, and frustrated.



It took us an hour to get through that f’n place.

Screw you, Colorado Springs. If I never come back, I’m perfectly OK with that.

 

[Tyler]

It made us chuckle, after having visited the SPAM museum in Minnesota a couple of years ago.

 

[Jer]

Really enjoying the report Andy. It was nice of you to approach me in Montrose. Sooze and I had a nice chat while you ran off, to the restroom, I assume.

Having met you both makes the stories more interesting and I am hoping to see you both in the future.

 

[BikerGeek99]

Really enjoying the report Andy. It was nice of you to approach me in Montrose. Sooze and I had a nice chat while you ran off, to the restroom, I assume.

Having met you both makes the stories more interesting and I am hoping to see you both in the future.

It was nice to meet ya and chat with ya!

 

[BikerGeek99]

After FINALLY getting outta Colorado Springs, we continued on Route 24 in Colorado.

It was still really warm, but the scenery picked up a bit.



We’re definitely not in the corn fields of Central Ohio any longer.









Route 24 twisted around a bit and suddenly we descended into a valley floor. The road looked like it just kept going and going, ‘cause it did!



But we passed stuff like this.



Peaches, anyone?



A liquor store in the middle of friggin’ nowhere.



And, eventually….



We came to a complete stop. Again.



Road construction in the middle of nowhere.



At least this time around, the temperature was considerably cooler and there was a nice breeze. Ahead was a three-way intersection and traffic was stopped in every direction. This little delay cost us another 30 minutes, but compared to Colorado Springs, it was tolerable.

If you wanna live ‘away’ from things, there are places out here that are just that. AWAY from ANYthing. Cool place, though.



About the time we made it onto US Route 50 – which we could have taken all the way from Ohio to Montrose – both of our Sena headsets ran outta battery power. D’OH! Not sure why – we’ve ridden multiple days without charging them with no issues. My guess is the high heat impacted battery life, but what the hell do I know.

Anyhoo. I rode the last hunnert or so miles just listening to the voices in my head. And the wind. And the bike.




US 50 out here does not suck.



As we were rolling along, there were signs alerting us to an accident ahead and to expect delays.

Great.

Eventually we rolled up on this. NOT good. A Harley had run off the road and it looked like had run into the side of the mountain. The helicopter was just getting ready to take off. NOT good – I hope the passenger(s) came through OK.



We were at the tail end of a loooong line of traffic that was moving slllooooooow.



Oh, well. We were in the home stretch, so may as well just sit back and enjoy the scenery.



I’ve never seen one of the ‘runaway truck’ thingamabobs used and I hope I’m not around when one of ‘em is used!









We rolled through Gunnison and I was gonna stop for gas, but traffic was stoopit and I couldn’t safely make it in to a gas station, so I rolled the dice on fuel range and kept going. At least the scenery was nice.









Of course, the bike went on reserve. I was poking around in the GPS looking for gas stations before Montrose. To say the least, there ain’t much between Gunnison and Montrose. I lucked out and this little place had gas, my choice of 85 octane or diesel. I chose the 85 octane, just enough to get us into Montrose.



Finally, we arrived safely at NAFO-Central in Montrose. We were hot, tired, and maybe a little bit hangry. Some folks wanted to chat with us in the parking lot but we wanted to get settled into our room and get outta our riding gear. 650+ plus hot miles tends to do that. On our way in, we had passed a Mexican joint walking distance from the hotel.

After getting cooled off a bit, we wandered back outside and wound up going to the Mexican place with PhilJet and also Uncle Hud. The margaritas were tasty and we had a few laughs. Just a few.



After a few minutes, HotRodZilla and Intech tracked us down and came in to say hi. A few more laughs may have been had.



Back at the hotel, ‘Zilla pulled his bike around for … Something. Hell if I know what, but I didn’t get involved. It’s better that way.



So we made it! 1500 miles in 2 ½ days to a state I last visited 20 years ago. That visit 20 years ago was to come out and see my old friend Vance, who moved to Colorado from Ohio in 1993 or so. Vance is the friend who is the reason why I ever got a motorcycle in the first place. Unfortunately, Vance succumbed to a brain tumor 9 years ago. That fact weighed on me several times during this trip, just one of the voices rattling around in my helmet, telling me to stop being such an idiot, worrying about shite that isn’t worth worrying aboot, and enjoy the damn trip. The bike was fine, my cankle and foot were both fine, and, damnitall, we’re in Colorado!

Lots more to come, but enough for tonight.

 

[HotRodZilla]

For the record, I was only adjusting my suspension. This was the first time C had been on the bike since the rebuild, and the settings were FUBAR. Changing them up made a huge difference. I had a TON of assistance, as you can tell, but only Bob got down on the ground and helped. So, thank you Bob. Oh, yeah, he also hid my keys, so FYB! Lol...

I'm glad Geek didn't help. He probably would have let the smoke out of something.

Keep it coming dude!!

 

[Redfish Hunter]

Andy,

1. Colorado Springs traffic does suck. So do the prices of everything there.

2.Hwy 24 heading out of there is Very Nice. You passed right by the road leading up Pike's Peak and it is also Very Nice.

3.I LOVE the way Hwy 24 just drops into infinity. The first time I passed where you were stuck for 30 minutes we got caught in a hail storm.

I think riding through Colorado on a SuperSportTourer with the lovely Sooze on the back is the perfect way to honor the memory of your friend. He would probably be very proud to know his legacy lives on in such a wonderful way.

Last... What is the damned problem? NAFO has been over with for an entire week now. WHY is this RR taking so long? What is the problem?

 

[BikerGeek99]

Thanks for the kind words, guys.

And, yes, 'Zilla - I either woulda let the smoke outta something or (and you can ask yamafitter aboot this), something important woulda fallen off.

Last... What is the damned problem? NAFO has been over with for an entire week now. WHY is this RR taking so long? What is the problem?

DUDE - CHILL, NOW!

We didn't come straight home. We took five days to come home and we saw some other stuff along the way. It takes time to get all these pictures (if you haven't figured it out already, Sooze gets credit for 99.8% of these pictures) organized and uploaded.

 

[NTXFJR]

Nice report Geek! You and your wife got much better pics than we did, cool!

AJ, we were wondering what you were doing to that bike, with that new suspension properly set up you should have easily been able to do those wheelies we were shouting about!

 

[Redfish Hunter]

Sir, I am sipping a Southern Pecan Brown Ale, reading and re-reading some of this and Wheaton's excellent (also unfinished) RR. I could not be more "chilled".

As I am a dedicated fan of all BikerGeek Ride Reports I am very well aware that the lovely Sooze is the best part of the entire Report and that she takes most of the pictures. (Unfortunately that means more pics of YOU and less of HER) And as someone who has typed a few RRs myself I fully understand that it takes time and effort. Plus the Real World has all sorts of things that Need Doing Now.

Speaking as a friend you have not met, please take your time. I know it will be worth it.

Okay. That should have been enough time.

 

[wheatonFJR]

Geek, yer way ahead of me on your RR! Slowdowndammit...yer making me look bad.

Great stuff as usual.

 

[escapefjrtist]

Good looking RR so far Andy. Thanks for taking the time to pull it together!

--G

 

[Uncle Hud]

Nice to meet you and the world famous Sooze. It's her fault that I had one to many margaritas that evening. (Or was it two too many?)

Nice photos of the ride in! Do you have any from the ride home? Tick, tock, man.