wmubrown
Chairman of the hoard
For the first time ever I decided to haul my bike south, using the excuse of visiting my Dad for Christmas in Florida, so that I could put a few winter miles on the bike. The weather has been rather mild here in Michigan, and I have been out riding, but I have not taken any trips of note.
Not knowing what the weather would be like on the return trip, some 7 to 10 days later (undetermined at the time I left) I arranged to visit a buddy in Tennessee, where I would unload the bike and leave the Durango and trailer. This would put me at about the half way point, and safely in the "better weather" zone should the weather go to hell up here in the north as it's want to do. I've never hauled the bike on a trailer for such a long distance before, and began investigating the purchase of a trailer. Winter is not a good time to buy a trailer in Michigan, it turns out. At least, not a utility trailer, there seemed to be plenty of enclosed trailers, but I was not willing to fork over $2000 for one. Next best option, I borrowed one from a friend of mine. Exactly the kind of trailer I was looking to buy, and I've used it before for short hauls before. First thing I did was inspect the lighting... CHECK, it worked! Trailer lights are the bane of trailer owners, for a good read check out Pat McManus's short story "Trailer Trials" for a good laugh.
A last minute glitch in family plans sent me to Chicago Friday night. I fought rain and 40 MPH head winds the whole way out. Saturday morning things were no better weather-wise, except now, heading towards Indianapolis, I'd be fighting 40 MPH cross winds. Lovely.
About 20 miles outside Indy, I hit what I thought was a particularly rough patch of highway. I checked my mirrors, as I had been doing about every 15 seconds, to check on the trailer and bike. All seemed normal, though the bike seemed to be at a slight slant now - could just be the bank in the highway. A car came up along my left side, and as I looked over, noticed the driver pointing backward at the trailer. I waved and thought "GREAT... I KNEW it!" I just missed the exit ramp, and started slowing an came to a stop on the other side of the merging ramp. I got out, and sure enough, the right tire was flat. Well, flat is putting it mildly. This tire was NO more. It was beyond deceased, it was purely and utterly beyond help. It was completely shredded...
I momentarily thought about backing the trailer up the ramp (I could do it, I've maneuvered a trailer around tighter spots) but the traffic coming off the ramp and the distance involved ended that thought. I looked ahead, down the highway, and saw an emergency turn-around. Perfect! I waited for traffic to clear, then pulled back onto the highway, turned around and headed up the other ramp. The GPS said there was a tire center less than .1 mile off the ramp, perfect!
I pulled into the tire center and found they were closed for lunch, but they would re-open at 1 PM - within 10 minutes! This just keeps getting better! I wait, and soon enough a car pulls up, and employee gets out, unlocks the door, heads inside and then locks the door. Hmmm. I wait... 1:10PM... 1:15PM... he's just standing there looking out the window. Then he gets on his cell phone. I figure he's waiting for someone in authority to open up. Then I look a little closer at the sign... Saturday hours... 8 AM to Noon. Shoot...! They're not going to open up! He must be there to finish up a job or something. He disappeared from the window and I didn't catch sight of him again. I got back to the GPS and pulled up an Autozone down the street, they should know where I could go for a tire.
I pull the trailer down the street to the Autozone, pulling in across the street next to a closed business. I inquire at the Autozone about a tire place that might be open, and Indy would be the closest on a Saturday. Well, at least it's only 20 miles away. I detached the trailer, and went to remove the wheel. I didn't have the correct lug wrench. Fortunately Autozone did. Back to the trailer, I removed the wheel, locked up the trailer, and headed to Indy. The guys in Autozone gave me pretty good directions to a Pep Boys, but the GPS had a better and quicker route to it.
As I pulled into town, I noticed a Discount Tire to the left, which I MUCH prefer over a Pep Boys. I brought the tire in with me and said "This tire has a slow leak, do you think you can patch it?" The guy immediately laughed... I felt a bit better. He took a look at it, then asked me what size it was. Size?? SIZE??? Oh bloody hell...! I didn't even think to check the good tire and this one was so shredded it wasn't readable. I said no, and began thinking of a return trip just to find the tire size. Then I thought about calling Autozone to see if one of the guys there would go check it for me. Then the Discount Tire guy said he might be able to figure it out, and started pushing various pieces together and came up with the size. Great! That just saved me 45 minutes of driving. He told me that the wrong tires had been put on the trailer, these were cars tires. Car tires? Trailer tires? Hunh? He explained the difference: car tires have soft walls and are engineered for more up and down motion while trailer tires have thicker sidewalls for the side-to-side motion trailers exhibit. He felt that with the load, highway speed, and battling side winds caused the side walls to fail. Sounds reasonable to me, and now I have a new data point to add to my collection for future reference. A new trailer tire would be $80. $80?!??!! Yikes... They had my purchase record on hand (I've always gone to them for tires) and he discounted it to $70 including installation balancing and all that stuff. That sounded better. Only it meant I also needed to replace the other tire or it might suffer the same fate and possibly in a less fortunate location. They were really busy since they would be closed the next 2 days and they ran into a problem removing the carcass of the old tire because they couldn't get the bead out, but 1.5 hours later I was heading back to the trailer with a new tire. I put it back on the trailer within 5 minutes and I headed back to Discount Tire to get the other replaced. They closed at 5 PM that day, and my tire still wasn't done, they were busy going overtime on a few vehicles that pulled in at the last minute. Finally, after a little more than 4 hours of delay, and $125 in tires, I was back on the road and heading for Tennessee. Dinner plans with my friends were canceled as I wouldn't arrive until 11 PM.
I pulled in around 10:45 PM, visited briefly with my buddy Koop who suggested we get the bike and Durango unloaded. It was rather chilly out as we unstrapped the bike. Two straps had started to tear through and were replaced enroute, the remaining two original straps weren't looking much better now, so I made a mental note to pick up a new set of straps somewhere. We got everything unloaded and headed in for a brew and visit a bit.
The next morning I packed up and loaded the bike for the rest of the trip. Koop got on his bike and led me out via some backroads to the interstate where we parted. It felt good to be on the bike and it was a beautiful, if a little chilly (38 degrees BUT sunny), morning to ride!
Just north of Macon GA I hit rain. Traffic had been fairly light, and by then it had warmed up to about 62 degrees so a little rain wasn't such a bad thing and I was making good time. The rain stuck with me the remained of the trip, about 4 hours, and never got really heavy - but as evening fell with a dull wet thud, it did make the highway a bit difficult to see. I arrived at my Dad's house around 11 PM, as predicted. It was good to finally be there.
I didn't do much riding the next few days. The weather turned cold in Florida and I was there to visit, so I went about town helping Dad with a bunch of projects. I enjoy visiting Florida, especially in the winter, but having lived there for 6 years in the past, I wouldn't live there again. It is an interesting place though and the view from his place is nice:
Citrus trees grow everywhere. It's the unusual yard that doesn't have an orange tree or two:
Or a grapefruit tree with grapefruit the size of your head:
But I'd miss the change of seasons, and I do actually enjoy some snow sports (skiing, snow mobiling, ice skating). I grew up in the north after all. He loves it though, and wouldn't consider living anywhere else.
Plans for the trip home changed a bit. My buddy Koop bought a bike off another buddy Chip, who lives in North Carolina. Another personal circumstance made a side-visit to North Carolina a good one for me. So the plan would be for Koop to drive the Durango and trailer out to North Carolina and leave it there, while he rode his new bike home. I rode up to North Carolina, loaded up the bike with the help of my buddies Chip and John, visited briefly with Chip and Deb, then stayed with John and Stacey across the street who were celebrating the holidays with family. John cooks up a mean chili... and just about anything else he puts a pan to, so I was well fed. Despite exhaustion, they all stayed up late as we talked, played around with computers and laptops, and drank. John's got a tap right in the kitchen... pretty sweet setup! Lots of good wine too! I was going to sleep well tonight for sure!
The next morning, new years eve, I got an early start, planning to be home before the new year. My calculations put me home by 10 PM not including food stops. I ended up requiring one extra gas stop (pulling the trailer really hurts fuel economy), stopped once for food, and with a smooth, trouble free drive arrived home at 11:15 PM. By 11:45 PM I had the bike unloaded, the important stuff unloaded from the Durango, and was closing up the garage to join some neighbors to ring in the new year. I had a beer, fired up a cigar, and hung out with 6 neighbors as they set off a fireworks show at midnight. All in all... not a bad way to spend Christmas and new years! Looking back, I could have ridden the whole way to Florida and back, but I had no way of knowing that before I left. I chose to be safe though, and knowing when I headed back I'd have to BE back without extra overnight stays, it was a wise decision. I still managed to put over 1,100 miles on the bike this trip, and since I've returned I've put another 300 on! In January!! Can you imagine?!??!? We're going to pay for this I'm sure...
Hope everyone enjoyed a nice holiday break!
Not knowing what the weather would be like on the return trip, some 7 to 10 days later (undetermined at the time I left) I arranged to visit a buddy in Tennessee, where I would unload the bike and leave the Durango and trailer. This would put me at about the half way point, and safely in the "better weather" zone should the weather go to hell up here in the north as it's want to do. I've never hauled the bike on a trailer for such a long distance before, and began investigating the purchase of a trailer. Winter is not a good time to buy a trailer in Michigan, it turns out. At least, not a utility trailer, there seemed to be plenty of enclosed trailers, but I was not willing to fork over $2000 for one. Next best option, I borrowed one from a friend of mine. Exactly the kind of trailer I was looking to buy, and I've used it before for short hauls before. First thing I did was inspect the lighting... CHECK, it worked! Trailer lights are the bane of trailer owners, for a good read check out Pat McManus's short story "Trailer Trials" for a good laugh.
A last minute glitch in family plans sent me to Chicago Friday night. I fought rain and 40 MPH head winds the whole way out. Saturday morning things were no better weather-wise, except now, heading towards Indianapolis, I'd be fighting 40 MPH cross winds. Lovely.
About 20 miles outside Indy, I hit what I thought was a particularly rough patch of highway. I checked my mirrors, as I had been doing about every 15 seconds, to check on the trailer and bike. All seemed normal, though the bike seemed to be at a slight slant now - could just be the bank in the highway. A car came up along my left side, and as I looked over, noticed the driver pointing backward at the trailer. I waved and thought "GREAT... I KNEW it!" I just missed the exit ramp, and started slowing an came to a stop on the other side of the merging ramp. I got out, and sure enough, the right tire was flat. Well, flat is putting it mildly. This tire was NO more. It was beyond deceased, it was purely and utterly beyond help. It was completely shredded...
I momentarily thought about backing the trailer up the ramp (I could do it, I've maneuvered a trailer around tighter spots) but the traffic coming off the ramp and the distance involved ended that thought. I looked ahead, down the highway, and saw an emergency turn-around. Perfect! I waited for traffic to clear, then pulled back onto the highway, turned around and headed up the other ramp. The GPS said there was a tire center less than .1 mile off the ramp, perfect!
I pulled into the tire center and found they were closed for lunch, but they would re-open at 1 PM - within 10 minutes! This just keeps getting better! I wait, and soon enough a car pulls up, and employee gets out, unlocks the door, heads inside and then locks the door. Hmmm. I wait... 1:10PM... 1:15PM... he's just standing there looking out the window. Then he gets on his cell phone. I figure he's waiting for someone in authority to open up. Then I look a little closer at the sign... Saturday hours... 8 AM to Noon. Shoot...! They're not going to open up! He must be there to finish up a job or something. He disappeared from the window and I didn't catch sight of him again. I got back to the GPS and pulled up an Autozone down the street, they should know where I could go for a tire.
I pull the trailer down the street to the Autozone, pulling in across the street next to a closed business. I inquire at the Autozone about a tire place that might be open, and Indy would be the closest on a Saturday. Well, at least it's only 20 miles away. I detached the trailer, and went to remove the wheel. I didn't have the correct lug wrench. Fortunately Autozone did. Back to the trailer, I removed the wheel, locked up the trailer, and headed to Indy. The guys in Autozone gave me pretty good directions to a Pep Boys, but the GPS had a better and quicker route to it.
As I pulled into town, I noticed a Discount Tire to the left, which I MUCH prefer over a Pep Boys. I brought the tire in with me and said "This tire has a slow leak, do you think you can patch it?" The guy immediately laughed... I felt a bit better. He took a look at it, then asked me what size it was. Size?? SIZE??? Oh bloody hell...! I didn't even think to check the good tire and this one was so shredded it wasn't readable. I said no, and began thinking of a return trip just to find the tire size. Then I thought about calling Autozone to see if one of the guys there would go check it for me. Then the Discount Tire guy said he might be able to figure it out, and started pushing various pieces together and came up with the size. Great! That just saved me 45 minutes of driving. He told me that the wrong tires had been put on the trailer, these were cars tires. Car tires? Trailer tires? Hunh? He explained the difference: car tires have soft walls and are engineered for more up and down motion while trailer tires have thicker sidewalls for the side-to-side motion trailers exhibit. He felt that with the load, highway speed, and battling side winds caused the side walls to fail. Sounds reasonable to me, and now I have a new data point to add to my collection for future reference. A new trailer tire would be $80. $80?!??!! Yikes... They had my purchase record on hand (I've always gone to them for tires) and he discounted it to $70 including installation balancing and all that stuff. That sounded better. Only it meant I also needed to replace the other tire or it might suffer the same fate and possibly in a less fortunate location. They were really busy since they would be closed the next 2 days and they ran into a problem removing the carcass of the old tire because they couldn't get the bead out, but 1.5 hours later I was heading back to the trailer with a new tire. I put it back on the trailer within 5 minutes and I headed back to Discount Tire to get the other replaced. They closed at 5 PM that day, and my tire still wasn't done, they were busy going overtime on a few vehicles that pulled in at the last minute. Finally, after a little more than 4 hours of delay, and $125 in tires, I was back on the road and heading for Tennessee. Dinner plans with my friends were canceled as I wouldn't arrive until 11 PM.
I pulled in around 10:45 PM, visited briefly with my buddy Koop who suggested we get the bike and Durango unloaded. It was rather chilly out as we unstrapped the bike. Two straps had started to tear through and were replaced enroute, the remaining two original straps weren't looking much better now, so I made a mental note to pick up a new set of straps somewhere. We got everything unloaded and headed in for a brew and visit a bit.
The next morning I packed up and loaded the bike for the rest of the trip. Koop got on his bike and led me out via some backroads to the interstate where we parted. It felt good to be on the bike and it was a beautiful, if a little chilly (38 degrees BUT sunny), morning to ride!
Just north of Macon GA I hit rain. Traffic had been fairly light, and by then it had warmed up to about 62 degrees so a little rain wasn't such a bad thing and I was making good time. The rain stuck with me the remained of the trip, about 4 hours, and never got really heavy - but as evening fell with a dull wet thud, it did make the highway a bit difficult to see. I arrived at my Dad's house around 11 PM, as predicted. It was good to finally be there.
I didn't do much riding the next few days. The weather turned cold in Florida and I was there to visit, so I went about town helping Dad with a bunch of projects. I enjoy visiting Florida, especially in the winter, but having lived there for 6 years in the past, I wouldn't live there again. It is an interesting place though and the view from his place is nice:
Citrus trees grow everywhere. It's the unusual yard that doesn't have an orange tree or two:
Or a grapefruit tree with grapefruit the size of your head:
But I'd miss the change of seasons, and I do actually enjoy some snow sports (skiing, snow mobiling, ice skating). I grew up in the north after all. He loves it though, and wouldn't consider living anywhere else.
Plans for the trip home changed a bit. My buddy Koop bought a bike off another buddy Chip, who lives in North Carolina. Another personal circumstance made a side-visit to North Carolina a good one for me. So the plan would be for Koop to drive the Durango and trailer out to North Carolina and leave it there, while he rode his new bike home. I rode up to North Carolina, loaded up the bike with the help of my buddies Chip and John, visited briefly with Chip and Deb, then stayed with John and Stacey across the street who were celebrating the holidays with family. John cooks up a mean chili... and just about anything else he puts a pan to, so I was well fed. Despite exhaustion, they all stayed up late as we talked, played around with computers and laptops, and drank. John's got a tap right in the kitchen... pretty sweet setup! Lots of good wine too! I was going to sleep well tonight for sure!
The next morning, new years eve, I got an early start, planning to be home before the new year. My calculations put me home by 10 PM not including food stops. I ended up requiring one extra gas stop (pulling the trailer really hurts fuel economy), stopped once for food, and with a smooth, trouble free drive arrived home at 11:15 PM. By 11:45 PM I had the bike unloaded, the important stuff unloaded from the Durango, and was closing up the garage to join some neighbors to ring in the new year. I had a beer, fired up a cigar, and hung out with 6 neighbors as they set off a fireworks show at midnight. All in all... not a bad way to spend Christmas and new years! Looking back, I could have ridden the whole way to Florida and back, but I had no way of knowing that before I left. I chose to be safe though, and knowing when I headed back I'd have to BE back without extra overnight stays, it was a wise decision. I still managed to put over 1,100 miles on the bike this trip, and since I've returned I've put another 300 on! In January!! Can you imagine?!??!? We're going to pay for this I'm sure...
Hope everyone enjoyed a nice holiday break!
On Christmas Day, while out for dinner with my Dad, rain pelted those waiting outdoors for a seat. It just seemed like rain... the kind of downpour Florida is famous for in the winter, which never lasts long, and then releases the sun once again to evaporate the evidence. It turns out that a tornado struck down about 1 mile from our location. We never had a clue. In fact, we didn't learn of it until the next morning!
