Home from Spokane - SS & BB

I'm back at my desk driving this keyboard.

I made it home from Spokane to Bass Lake, IN in 39.5 hours, total mileage was 1955.
Logged 1790 miles at 36 hours for the BB. This included 3 stops at the IB Motel.

And I have the documents for the SS1000 and the BB1500.

Will post more later.

Serious riding!

Man... major ride.

You are to be congratulated, at least for being organized enough to document the ride.



Ian

Dude

You are one hard-assed rider! Congratulations.

Road Construction

I had to stand up, grip the tank with my knees and ride it like a GS,. Actually got it up into fourth after awhile and make some decent speed, This lasted for nine miles.

Spedo vs GPS

The odometer is not as far off as the speedometer. Here is the GPS at the house.

The error on the odometer is -.015%. Not too bad considering the error on the speed is around 10%

Congratulations! And nice to finally meet you.

Ian

Day 1

Needed to clear my desk of all the work stuff so I could take the week off. Busted hump the week before and it still didnÔÇÖt happen until Monday morning. So much for my plans to leave early. Checked out the gear by setting up the new tent, kids killed the old one a couple of weeks before, repacked everything and loaded the bike.

Took all of the stuff out to the bike, loaded it up and pointed the headlight north.

Folks were asking:
What is your route? Don't really have one.
Who is going with you? No one
When are you leaving? As soon as I can.

The end of Day 1 found me in Duluth, MN around 10:00.
Man the bugs. I had to stop every 10 miles and clean my faceshield after it started to get dark.

Day 2

Left Duluth and plugged in the co-ordinates for the Aerostich Riders warehouse, the GPS naturally got real close and then got lost. Seems it canÔÇÖt tell which way one-way streets run. I finally noticed a loaded GS parked in front of an old warehouse type building. Upon closer inspection I saw a sign on the door as Aero Manufacturing and in real small print the Aerostich Riders Warehouse. DonÔÇÖt expect to find a building as nice as the catalog they print but hey the folks are nice And they have all of the gear. Met a father and son from Canada who were going around the lakes for a little ride. Tried on a one piece roadcrafter and found I need a tall. The regular had me talking in soprano voice. And man are they ever heavy.

Next stop was somewhere west. Tried to plug in the route I had loaded from Aeropstich to BMWMOA rally and the GPS V locked up. It was asking me for a waypoint, wouldnÔÇÖt accept input form any of the buttons or turn off. I had to shut it down by unplugging it from the bike and removing the batteries. Tried to get the route to come up and it did the same thing again.

Of well, I saw US 2 earlier and headed that way.

Saw the first of many bikes headed to Spokane, I was passed by two GS bikes while snapping a shot of the marina.

Day 2 cont

We were running west on Hwy 2 when a local LEO let us know he thought our speedometers, you know how accurate they are, might be a little off by waving his finger in a downward direction as he rolled by in the other direction. Seems he wasnÔÇÖt the only LEO I would encounter on the trip that shared that feeling.

During a gas stop in MN a man pulled up on a airhead and announced that next years rally would be held in Lima, OH. After some discussion on the proper pronunciation of Lima we looked at each other and said ÔÇ£Sue, Brian, what were you thinking?ÔÇØ

Like the song says ÔÇ£Another tank of gas and weÔÇÖre back on the road again. Next stop was for a little lunch. After we got back on the road Christi noticed the red warning light on her dash was on. We pull into a church parking lot to check it out. The Seventh Day Adventists come out to check us out. Nice folks but people up there talk real funny.

The manual said she might have a failed brake lamp. Sure enough it was out. We decided to continue to run with Christi between Scott and myself with the thought we would look for an auto parts store on the way.

Sure enough we actually found an auto parts store in MN. Out comes the manual. All of the identification numbers come up as gaskets or exhaust pipes on the store computer. Christi does not want the bike that is packed with enough gear to go to Alaska to see what the bulb looks like so time to call Kurt in South Bend for advice. ÔÇ£Oh yeah, use a 1156 lampÔÇØ. Sure enough they got one of them. 89 cents, I look at Scott and predict that I the cheapest part he will ever purchase for that bike.

Scott and ChristiÔÇÖs travels are documented on their web page, seems she was a art teacher and has these two imaginary friends living in her saddlebags. You can visit their web page at www.csreynolds.net.


They asked what my plans were for the night and I said to head west unit I stopped, they both agreed that this was a wonderful plan and complimented me on my foresight and meticulous preparation. They had reservations at the HI in Minot, 600 miles being a long day for them ex goldwingers.

Time to point the headlight west again. Next stop was at CabelaÔÇÖs, noticed the sign on the side of the road in Rapid something, MN. Way cool place, we met another set of riders heading to the rally and then Alaska, what is it with that place. They were headed home after traveling to GA last year and storing the bike for the winter. Now they had flown back to GA and were riding back to Alaska.

Congrats on the ride! Those are some serious miles that you put in. One little side note. From the pics of your loaded bike, you really need a dose of Helen. Check out her site.... soon, before you scatter things across the countyside. It's not a sales pitch, but rather a packing method..


RW

I like it that way

It stays on at speed, everything is accessible in it's own drybag. I was packing a cooler, tent and chair and didn't sleep in a bed for a week so.......

Interesting picture ...

I take that to be a Palm Beach County voter trying to figure out where to insert his head?


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Added via Edit: Oops! Sorry about that -- I just noticed the Avatar.

Day 2 cont.

We stopped at Cabelas Did I already say that? Neat store lots of stuffed stuff.

Day 2 last

Next stop Minot, ND
Long straight slab with a 70 mph speed limit, time to make the miles. Pulled in to the KOA around dark and met Doug and his son Josh. They were almost halfway through a four corners tour.
That has got to be a womnderful experience to share with your son.
Interesting geology of the area. The long straight stretch is actually an old riverbed that is about two miles wide, When you get to the edge threre are a series of low rolling hills.
We were serenaded to sleep by the song of the coyotes. Josh wasn't sure if he liked that or not.

Day 3

I bid goodbye to Doug and Josh and agreed to meet at the St. Mary KOA that night outside Glacier. Long day in the heat running on mostly straight roads.
North Dakota had a few twisty roads and beautiful fields of gold and blue.

Camp Disappointment

Man your mind starts to wander in the heat.
"Imagine walking across these plains staring at the east end of a westbound ox for months and months. Yuk. I want to be there now.
Then you pass Camp Disappointment. I can just hear the conversation.

"Merriweather theres a mountain out there".

"A mountain, there not supposed to be a mountain, It's supposed to be the coast. Whty the heck do you think we've been schlepping that damn boat all this way"

"Ah crap,(can I post that here?) I'm, disappointed, I wanted to go water skiing"

yeah, I know, guess you had to be there.

Anyway eventually you are rewarded with a view of the mountains and a really twisty road that leads to St. Mary with a 70 mph speed limit. Of course you know it is going to be good when the next sign after the speed limit sign is a 25 mph warning sign for s curves.

DFW Beemer Club

These guys travel with a chase vehicle and have been on the road for two weeks trying to get to the rally.

DFW

Bikes at night

Day 3

Glacier, words do not describe the beauty of Glacier National Park.

Glacier

More pics