Riding my Steamer NY to CA and back April and May 2021

[ssevy]

Prologue

PS - click on the pictures to enlarge them

I have a bucket list. It isn't an actual written list, and to be honest, I am not sure that I could tell you all of the items that are on it. Some of them, like "fly fish for big brook trout in Canada", and "ride in a hot air balloon" have been on it for a while, while others, like "lose enough weight to ditch the CPAP machine" or "ride 30 minutes after drinking caffeinated or carbonated beverages without having to stop and relieve myself" are more recent additions. One of the oldest items on my list has existed since the summer of 1977, placed there shortly after I graduated from high school. Forty-four years later, in April and May of this year, it finally received a big red checkmark, even if it was only on my mental list.
Do any of you remember the early 80's Honda Goldwing Interstate model? Although I have never owned one myself, this was the bike that began my motorcycle experiences, and this is how it happened:
One of my high school friends had a Hodaka motorcycle that he rode to school, and also to the garnet mine where we had our summer jobs. During our lunch break, he would bomb around the tailings piles while the rest of us finished eating and closed our eyes under a shady tree. I had never ridden a motorcycle, and honestly, had little interest in them. While the Hodaka looked like fun, I had a little German Alexander Lloyd  that my father had chopped into a field car, and in this I relieved any off road aspirations by bombing around in our old abandoned pastures whenever the urge presented itself. Looking back now, it would have been great to have a real dirt bike, but they were not a common sight where I grew up, so except for my friend's Hodaka, motorcycles just weren't on my radar.
Fast forward a year, and he sold the Hodaka and got a late 70's Honda 550 Four. To this he added a Vetter fairing and a stereo, and from my 18-year-old world view, this was about as cool as a thing could be. Now he had my attention. Unfortunately, my wages were all being saved for my college expenses, so it was time to start a bucket list, and "motorcycle with stereo" was the first item added.
Another year or two passed, and he needed to sell the 550 to help fund the new Honda Interstate that he had ordered. I was working at a ski shop during my college vacations, as well as playing in several bands around the Adirondacks and Lake George area, so I was able to come up with the $1000 he was asking, and (trumpet fanfare), I owned my first bike!
He rode it to my house, took off his plates, and gave me a 10-minute lesson about the controls, and with that short introduction, I was confidently ready to try my first ride. Over the three years I owned it I only dumped it once, and thought it was about the most awesome thing in the world to ride up through the notch by the Cascade Lakes to Lake Placid listening to the Doobie Brothers "Rockin' Down the Highway". It was, of course, only natural that once he got his Gold Wing that we would ride across the country together, but that didn't happen. We were both too busy working, he in a real job, and me to pay for school. Even though we never did the ride, the photos in the Gold Wing brochures and my imagination were all that were necessary to plant the seed of a cross-country ride firmly in my head, where it was duly added to the bucket list, right underneath "trade in the 550 for a Gold Wing".

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans" – John Lennon

Two years later I sold the 550 for $900, including the two Vetter helmets and the barely-used Bagman luggage, and I bought a car. My career as a music teacher had begun, and there was neither the time nor the money to pursue any motorcycle interests. I married, had a family, continued my career, and time flew past. Finally, in 2007, after 25 years of being without a motorcycle, I took the motorcycle safety course and bought a 1999 Triumph Legend with 3500 hundred miles on it (for $3500!) I then proceeded to discover the joys of riding a bike that didn't have a 50 pound fairing and stereo bolted to the forks, which was a revelation!  Then, in 2013, after much searching, I found my dream bike, a 1995 Triumph Tiger. This is the bike that I rode for this coast-to-coast trip and back, and aside from an issue with the rear brake that I unknowingly caused myself, it ran flawlessly for the entire 6,176 miles.
The trip itself unwound into a very memorable experience, just as any bucket list item should, although not quite as I had anticipated. Probably the biggest lesson learned during my days on the road would be careful trip planning does not guarantee a smooth journey. There would be technology issues, weather issues and mechanical issues. I did have a schedule to keep on the westward leg of this journey, and several of the aforementioned issues, unfortunately, caused me to scrap my backroad routes and slab it a bit to make up for lost time. This, in turn, caused the rear brake issue, and resulted in my navigating Los Angeles traffic for the first time in my life on a bike with no rear brake. Who says life is boring?
Of course, this was also the time of COVID, and although I had received both of my vaccinations in March, I still chose to use extra caution to protect myself and others with whom I would come into contact. Thus, I planned my route carefully to stay in campgrounds and away from people as much as possible, and continued to mask up and sanitize my hands after touching anything like gas pumps, etc. for the entirety of the trip. This strategy was apparently successful, as the trip was uneventful in terms of COVID issues.
No trip of mine would be complete without a crisis the night before departure, and this was no exception. After creating 30 days of routes in the MRA Routeplanner, uploading them to MyDrive, and finally sending them to the TomTomGo app on my Kyocera Duraforce phone, I discovered that they wouldn't work. This setup has been my navigation system for the last several years and has worked well for me. You can imagine my surprise (and panic) when it suddenly no longer worked!  After deleting, reloading, and a bunch of other stuff, I could not fix the issue, so I found another app to use to navigate the routes on the Kyocera, but I did not like it nearly as well. Since it was past midnight, and I had to roll out early in the morning, I would just have to do the best I could (At least I did not break the plastic spacer in the output shaft bearing the night before the trip this time...don't ask).

Bike Preparation

I rebuilt my calipers and installed new seals and pads, added some additional luggage pockets to the engine bars, mounted new tires, and equipped the battery with a lead for my heated gear, a battery booster pack jumper, and my phone charger. Oil and filter changed as well, and the chain wiped and then the Scottoiler tank refilled. I debated which seat cover to bring, and finally settled on the Alaska Sheepskin, which turned out to be a great choice.
As for the rest of my packing, I won't waste your time with too many details, but I will say that because of the early nature of the season, I had plenty of layers with me, and was very happy that I did. After a few days on the road, my packing system evolved into something much more workable (and repeatable), until it became second nature to load or unload in very short order.

Also, if anyone is interested, the Tiger odometer is currently at 66,028, although I rebuilt the top end while I had the cases split to replace the bearing I buggered up before the last trip at about 43,298 miles.

Okay, if you are still awake and with me, let's get on the road:

New Michelin tires:
 




Engine bar luggage:





Battery leads for all my gear:

[ssevy]

Day 1 – 4/17/21 Home to Ole Bull State Park PA

Overcast, rain and cold

Having finished loading the bike last night (this morning?) at 12:30 am, I got a late (9:15 am) start. I was interested to see how these new Michelin Road 5 Trail tires feel fully loaded, as I usually run Shinko 705's, but have opted for the much more expensive Michelin's due to their reputation for long life. Changing tires mid-trip does not appeal to me, so I hope their reputation is warranted. Their wet weather handling is apparently going to be tested immediately, so I hope they are as good as the older model which I use on my Legend, which is superb in wet weather.
Today's destination is on familiar roads and only about 300 miles from home, so it will be a good break in for both the tires and for me as well, as I have ridden very little since getting the Tiger out of storage a few weeks ago.

Pinlock shield mounted, neck gaiter covering my chin, and all zipper vents fully closed, I grab my right leg with both hands to get it started over the seat, slide into place and connect the wire to my heated gear. Dialing both glove liners and jacket liner up to about 6 o'clock on the controller, I wave goodbye to my wife and roll out of the garage into a light rain.
This rain continues on and off for most of the day, and I am grateful for the heated glove and jacket liners, as the temperatures at speed are in the 40's. Spring is just beginning here in the northeast, and while the leaves are out, the foliage has a long way to go, so the visibility into the woods on each side of the road is excellent. Most of the many farms I pass have yet to plow in their winter cover crops, and the streams are high with snowmelt runoff and today's rain. I see a few brave fishermen wading in some of the trout streams, but they are few and far between this early in the season.

I have chosen all back roads today, and have seen very little traffic. My typical route-creating strategy is to find a campground at about the distance I want to cover for the day, and then switch to terrain view and edit the route to pick the most twists and elevation changes. Generally this produces a pretty nice variety of roads, but sometimes surprises do occur. The one wildcard is condition of the roads themselves, but the beauty of using a bike like my Tiger as a long distance touring rig is the long travel suspension tends to soak up the worst of even the really rough roads. Here in the northeast, fuel station availability is not a worry, but as I will soon discover further west, a nonchalant attitude about refueling can bite you in the ass.
Today's route has included roads which I have previously traveled, so I had pretty great riding despite the rain and cold temperatures. I arrived at the campground just before dinner time, and proceeded to unpack the bike and set up my tent as best I could, not quite sure where I had hurriedly stashed everything late last night? Surprisingly, the campground was packed with campers, but thankfully I had made a reservation.

The rain continued off and on most of the night, and I had stashed most of my gear inside the tent with me to keep it dry. My old CPAP machine that I use to travel was louder than I remembered, and the sleeping bag was tight around my shoulders. All in all, my first night sleeping in a tent was a hot mess. My first attempt at packing the bike was a miserable failure, so tomorrow I would change things up a bit. In my journal, I listed 3 things to change:

1- Snacks and clothing layers more easily accessible.
2- Keep visa card in sleeve pocket.
3- Next time, leave more stuff home.

Today's numbers:  318 miles for the day

[ssevy]

Day 2 – 4/18/21 Ole Bull State Park PA to Mohican State Park OH

Sunny, cold, sprinkles late in the day

The rain stopped before dawn, but it was still cold and wet outside of the tent. I was up at 6:30 am and made a batch of oatmeal in my new collapsible cooking pot, which ended up on the picnic table, as I inadvertently slid it off center on the small stove arms while stirring it. A second pot was more carefully attended, and gratefully consumed along with some hot mint tea.
Unfortunately, my packing skills were still far shy of being called "sweet packing skills", and so by the time I finally had everything stowed it was 9:00 am. Most of the campers around me were still sleeping in their pop-ups, exhausted from yelling "you fuckin' little shits" and "goddamn little bastards" most of the evening as they sat around the fire drinking beer and watching their 6, 7 and 8-year-olds climbing up the oversize tires and jumping off the tailgates of their "coal burner" pickup trucks. As a retired teacher, I can only sympathize with the poor souls who will try to teach those kids about civility in their classrooms someday.

I exited the campground and backtracked a bit from yesterday's route in order to ride PA 44 through Cherry Springs State Park, a beautiful road that usually has nearly no traffic. It passes through an area that is noted for having an especially dark sky for stargazers, and eventually drops you onto RT 6, which crosses PA and actually the entire US. It, too, is a great road, with enough towns to get gas and food, but still pretty undeveloped overall.

Once I crossed the border into Ohio, I was struck, as I always am, with the noticeable difference in prosperity that you see immediately. The farms look cleaner and the livestock better attended to, the abandoned cars and appliances are no longer piled up around the houses, and the towns are in much better shape. The other striking thing is the lack of political flags and hand-painted signs that were so abundant in rural PA. The best feature of Ohio, however, are the roads themselves, as many are former Native American trails, which themselves were former buffalo paths, and thus rarely go in a straight line, even when it is possible. It is like a ribbon of macadam was dropped out of the sky, and left wherever it landed. The combination of these wonderful roads with the beautiful farms and scenery make Ohio one of my favorite places to visit on my motorcycle.
I pulled into the campground after a great day of riding, and did a little better unpacking and setting up my campsite. A long hot shower and then I was in the sleeping bag by 9:30. Improvements listed in my journal today:

1- Faster packing.
2- Shorter days riding for more time at campground.
3- Route through more towns for food/gas/bathroom stops.

The numbers:  today's mileage – 319, cumulative mileage 637

[ssevy]

Day 3 – 4/19/21 Mohican State Park OH to Covered Bridge Motel Rockville IN

Sunny, cold

It was very cold last night, and I wore my hat to bed, which really helped. I slept better, but got a late start again, this time due to a nice morning conversation with another camper who was walking his dog, rather than the usual packing issues. To save time, I backtracked up the road a couple of miles and enjoyed an Egg McMuffin with no cheese and a large sweet tea at McDonald's, my usual breakfast meal if I am grabbing a quick breakfast on the road. They had picnic tables outside, so I enjoyed my meal while I checked my directions for the day. The campground had been very nice, and was consistent with my experiences at other Ohio state campgrounds in the past.

Beautiful sunny day to ride, but I needed my heated gear cranked up all day, as it was very cold. It appears that I am the only biker on the road so far on this trip, as I assume the weather is just too cold and wet for most sane people? I expect that will change considerably once I get out to the warm and busy west coast.

I did not make a reservation for tonight, as I could not tell on the website if the IN campgrounds were open or not? As it turned out, they were open, but the one I stopped at had no one at the gatehouse, and the water was not yet turned on, so only RV's that were self-sufficient were using the sites. According to the forecast, it was supposed to snow as well, which would mean holing up for a day or so, and doing this in my tent with no water or bathroom facilities was less than appealing. Considering all of this, I found a mom and pop motel a few miles south of the campground and headed there for the night. As it turned out, my CPAP machine had run for the last time the previous night, so it was actually fortuitous that the snow arrived and the CPAP departed on the very same day, as I was able to contact my physician and get my CPAP prescription faxed to a CPAP store in Houston, which overnighted a new machine to me at the Covered Bridge Motel.

The numbers:  today – 310 miles, 947 cumulative, new CPAP machine $800

[ssevy]

Day 4 – 4/20/21 Covered Bridge Motel Rockville IN

Snow,cold

The snowstorm arrived and dumped about 4" snow on the ground. I was happy to be snugly situated in my knotty pine paneled motel room, binge watching reruns of Law and Order. Without a CPAP machine last night, I slept very poorly, but it would have been much worse in a sleeping bag in a wet tent in a snowstorm, so I am not complaining. Still, in order to ride safely, I really need to get some decent sleep, so I am in a holding pattern here at the Covered Bridge Motel until my new CPAP machine arrives.
Looking at the logistics of getting to LA in time to meet my wife who is flying out, I did explore the option of just reversing course and heading back home, purchasing another plane ticket and joining her on the flight to LA. Since she purchased her ticket for $300 several weeks ago, the price has gone up to over $1000, so I decided that spending $800 for the new CPAP made more sense, as I would need it for future travels anyways.

The entire process of getting my prescription sent to the CPAP store in Texas involved multiple phone calls and many minutes listening to Michael Bolton and Kenny G songs while on hold (this must be what Hell is like), but I finally received the email confirmation, so fingers crossed that FedEx overnight is not a misnomer.

Since I cannot ride today, I decided to walk up to the Burger King for my breakfast. It was pretty bad, but their sweet tea was at least cold. I was an odd looking sight, wearing my wool long underwear under my hiking pants, shod in my tall Forma Adventure boots and topped off with a fluorescent yellow fleece winter hat as I wandered back to my room, breakfast bag in hand.
Once I finished my breakfast, I took out my Kyocera phone to create new routes west, as the leisurely back road pace I had planned so carefully all went out the window when the snow/CPAP perfect storm arrived. Unfortunately, the app I had been forced to use as a replacement was pretty awful at creating routes on the fly, so after an hour of frustration, I got out my IPhone 8 and opened up the Scenic app. This app was really great at building routes on the phone itself, but the little screen made it really hard to see the entire route and break it down into manageable pieces. Since I had endless amounts of free time, however, I stayed with the task, and was able to get myself out to LA in time to meet my wife's plane, but it meant switching to lots of slab riding, which I really detest. It also meant abandoning most of my Colorado routes, including the Million Dollar Highway, but the snow had closed a bunch of my intended northern routes anyways, so I was hoping to catch them on the return trip in a few weeks. All of the northern CA stuff would also be discarded, as I needed to be back in time to drive to Virginia and move my daughter home from college, and adding the missed routes from the western leg would add to the days getting back home. Southerly riding it would be, then, fingers crossed that the southwestern states would be storm free.

So I ended the day by microwaving one of my freeze dried meals for dinner, which provided me with 6 times the daily recommended supply of sodium, as well as a whole bunch of other unpronounceable ingredients. It made my BK breakfast sandwich look like haute cuisine by comparison.

The numbers:  today – 0, cumulative still holding at 947

[ssevy]

Day 5 – 4/21/21 Covered Bridge Motel Rockville IN

Overcast, cold

On the positive side, I got better sleep last night even without my CPAP. On the negative side, my prescription did not get faxed by 5 pm yesterday, so no CPAP delivery today. The roads are still pretty wet, but the sun did come out this afternoon and finish melting the snow, so the beautiful purple dogwood trees are once again showing off their blooms.
Since I just lost another day waiting for the CPAP to arrive, I went back into my new routes and did some additional pruning. I don't want to just ride interstate all the way to CA, so I am trying to balance the time/distance/scenery equation as best I can. A few hours of squinting at the phone screen had me ready for some fresh air, so I put on my tourist ensemble and explored the downtown area of Rockville.

There is a beautiful large government building in the center of town, but most of the old storefronts are closed, as is typical in many of the smaller towns I have passed through. The cycle of a town's downfall can be judged by the stores that you see still standing. In so many of these communities, the first blow to downtown mom and pop businesses were the malls built just outside of town where the property was cheaper with plenty of space for parking lots. These were themselves out competed by Walmart, which was kind of like the lion making the big kill. The final harbinger of death in a small town is Dollar General, which is like the vulture picking at whatever is left of the carcass. Almost without exception, any town that has a Dollar General store has reached rock bottom economically, and the boarded up storefronts and general decay reflect this. It was very depressing to see so many beautiful buildings from another era boarded up, with old dusty "For Sale" signs leaning askew, warped by the sunlight in their dirty windows.

I eventually wandered farther out of the downtown to the strip of businesses by the main highway, and grabbed a personal pizza and salad at Pizza Hut. I was the only customer in there during lunchtime, and only the BK down and across the street had any traffic that I could see.
The fresh air and exercise felt great, and I was getting restless to be moving west again, as I was really beginning to feel the clock ticking away and my route options with them. Fingers crossed that the FedEx driver is an early riser and grabs his breakfast on the run!

The numbers:  today, several miles walking, cumulative still stuck at 947.

[Sin_Tiger]

I can see the  machine getting extra duty for this one 

CPAP isn't as common in the UK, no wonder your pack is that high. Looks like there was an explosion in the porridge factory or was it just very windy?

[ghulst]

Awesome write-up so far! Really enjoying this. Now hoping the FedEx man is quick and you can get back on the road. Oh, and red steamers are a great way to do a road trip.

[ssevy]

I can see the  machine getting extra duty for this one 

CPAP isn't as common in the UK, no wonder your pack is that high. Looks like there was an explosion in the porridge factory or was it just very windy?

I was just not paying attention as I stirred, and once the weight was no longer centered on the rather smallish stove arms, over it went.

[ssevy]

Awesome write-up so far! Really enjoying this. Now hoping the FedEx man is quick and you can get back on the road. Oh, and red steamers are a great way to do a road trip.

Thanks for the kind words.

[ssevy]

Day 6 – 4/22/21 Covered Bridge Motel to Cedar Creek RV Park MO

Sunny, cold

The new CPAP arrived at noon, so by the time I tested it and packed the bike, it was 1:15 pm. The weather was cold and sunny, a perfect combination for making up some miles.
I routed myself onto I70 west, determined to make the most out of the afternoon and early evening daylight hours, eventually arriving at the Cedar Creek RV Park just before dark. While I was able to cover 306 miles in a pretty short number of hours, after the 3 days of idleness it was like being thrown in the deep end, as the traffic and the pace really tired me out. Even with the fatigue, it felt great to be moving again, and my spirits were definitely raised as a result. My gas mileage really took a hit today, running at 75+ MPH into a pretty strong headwind, dropping from my usual 42ish mpg to the upper 30's.

The Scenic app on my iPhone worked fine, powered by the same Juiced Squeeze puck and mount that works with my Kyocera Android phone. Unfortunately, I was to encounter a major problem with my new iPhone setup in just a few days, and had I known, the iPhone would have stayed in my jacket pocket with a set of earbuds attached to hear my directions. More on that later.

The campground was just off the interstate, down a dirt road, and part of a larger venue which I didn't see. There were mostly pull-through RV spots, and I was directed to a site next to a stack of irrigation pipes and other tools which hadn't seen the blade of a lawnmower in a while. The showers were really nice, however, and I was so tired that I set up the tent quickly, gratefully grabbed my shower and hit the sleeping bag. Just before sleep set in, I checked the forecast on my phone and was disappointed to see rain for tomorrow. My route has me deep into Kansas by the end of the day, so I will apply some raincoat to my visor before departing in the morning.

The numbers:  306 today, 1253 cumulative

[ssevy]

Day 7 – 4/23/21 Cedar Creek RV Park MO to Cimarron KS

Cold, overcast, rained all afternoon

I woke last night to the sound of some kind of animal checking out the bike. Just as I fell back into a deep sleep, I discovered that the neighboring farm had free range cattle, one of which decided that 2 am was the perfect time to stand at the fence just behind my tent and moo for a while. It was a strange night for sure.

My new CPAP machine worked pretty well on its maiden voyage. The model I use at home has a humidifier to keep my nasal passages from drying out while using it, but this portable one has a small device in the breathing tube which captures and recycles the moisture when I exhale. It worked pretty well last night, but with the temperatures dropping into the low 40's, a bunch of water was being condensed, and at one point I got a big dose of it back into my nose which woke me up. I took off the head straps and swung the nasal pillow end around and around like a dead cat until I couldn't hear any more water hitting the tent walls. It then worked fine for the rest of the night.

I have been wearing my merino wool long johns for two days and a night now, and could not have survived this weather without them. Layering works so well on a bike, and I stick to all merino wool for my base layer, including socks, year round. I have a heated jacket and glove liners when it gets really cold on the bike, but the wool bottoms and socks have been perfectly adequate even in the 30's. My Steamer does have good wind protection, including large handguards, which certainly affects riding comfort as well. Finally, my choice of the Alaska Sheepskin seat cover also turned out to be brilliant, as this kept me warm without monkey butt. Once the season warms up, I sweat too much to be comfortable on it, but in these 40 degree riding days, it is pretty perfect.

Crossing Kansas was interesting, as there are actually some unique geological formations in the eastern end of the state, including some rolling hills. There are lots of wind farms here as well, and it was almost eerie riding in the rain and fog this afternoon, to be suddenly startled by a brief glimpse of a giant turbine blade silently spinning in the mist off to the side of the road.

I stopped in Dodge City to check out the KOA campground, but my directions never got me there? Giving up on ever locating the KOA, I found a BBQ place instead, and enjoyed some great pulled pork, beans and potato salad. Since all of my gear was well saturated by this point in the day, and my woolies could stand upright without me inside, I decided that a motel with a laundry room would be my best choice for the night. Honestly, I found downtown Dodge City to look a little sketchy, and really did not want to have to unpack everything on the bike to keep it from being stolen, so I decided to ride to a smaller town for the night. I ended up at the Cimarron Crossing Motel, grabbing a room right next to the laundry room. While my dirty clothes were washing next door, I spread all of my gear out all over the room, and cranked the heat up to 80. I then took a walk a few blocks down the street to a convenience store for some snacks, taking a roundabout route through the downtown area on my return trip. Just as in Rockville IN, the buildings were mostly empty, but these were not in such a sad state of disrepair. I'm not sure upon what the local economy is based, but I did see a few giant stockyards as I crossed KS, so perhaps the cattle feed industry trickles down into this town?

I am pretty pleased with the pace I have been able to maintain, and I am eating up the miles while still running secondary roads and enjoying the scenery.

The numbers:  505 miles today, 1758 cumulative

[ssevy]

Day 8 – 4/24/21 Cimarron KS to Albuquerque KOA NM

Cold morning, warm, sunny afternoon

The cold weather continued this morning, so I rolled out of Cimarron with my heated gear cranked up, feeling nice and toasty in my freshly laundered woolies. Later in the afternoon it warmed up considerably, so the heated gear was stashed back into the clothing bag, but the long john bottoms remained in place due to no convenient spot to remove them.
Kansas is crisscrossed with numerous train tracks, many of which run alongside the secondary roads which I like to run. Yesterday and today I saw several trains, and I always made it a point to wave to the engineer, getting a friendly air horn "howdy" back about half the time.

Today's section of Kansas, riding southwest into Oklahoma and across Texas to New Mexico, is pretty empty country, with lots of tumbleweed and tractor trailers, but not much else. Unfortunately, fuel stops are spaced widely apart, something I failed to anticipate in Texas.  At one point I found myself on reserve and literally in the middle of nowhere, when I spied a road crew working ahead. Fortunately, they had a can of gas on the back of one of their trucks, and generously gave me several gallons to get me safely to the next gas station. I offered payment, which they refused, reinvigorating my faith in mankind just a little bit.

I filled up in Tucumcari (remember Lee Van Cleef asking about Tucumcari in one of those Clint Eastwood flicks?), and jumped on Interstate 40. At this point, I had been dealing with some pretty steady winds for 3 days, and thought I was getting pretty comfortable riding in windy conditions. Suffice it to say that I hadn't seen nuthin' yet! I40 was the busiest tractor trailer route that I had ever seen, even compared to I81 back east. It is actually a pretty hilly and scenic highway, but OMG, the sudden crosswinds were just unbelievable, and I could not lose focus for even a second, as I watched the trailers in front of me veering from lane to lane as they reacted to the sudden shifts in wind direction. Apparently these truckers were old hands at this section of road, because they didn't slack off even a little on the throttle, which meant we were all doing well north of 70 mph together in one unpredictable moving mass of flesh and steel. I did not dare to go any slower, as the trucks would literally wait to slow until they were right on my ass, and the only way I could keep some daylight around me was by finding a relatively empty space and going fast enough to stay there. The worst moment happened when I watched a pickup passing a tractor trailer which suddenly swerved left, causing the pickup to get over onto the shoulder so as not to be hit. This happened about 3 truck lengths in front of me, and fortunately my brain was still working well enough to realize that I was just about to hit the same spot where the crosswind had struck the trailer, so I quickly braced myself and was hammered into a lean by the wind in order to stay on the road. It took me from the right lane all the way across the left in about a microsecond, but my sudden aggressive lean was enough to compensate, and I stayed on the road. Granted, you couldn't have driven a flax seed up my ass with a sledge hammer for several minutes afterwards, but I was still on the blacktop!

The wind let up a bit, but it wasn't until I began ascending the long climb into Albuquerque that the temperature dropped to a comfortable level and I was finally able to relax a bit and enjoy the end of the ride.

I pulled into the KOA, which is a pretty large one, and opted for one of the small cabins after seeing the tent sites. It happened that two riders from Kansas City MO were in the cabin next door, and we had a nice visit before turning in for the night. My dinner had been at a nearby BBQ, and it was pretty good. Honestly, if I could eat good BBQ for all of my daily meals, I would be a happy man. I always try to find it on the road, as I have nothing decent around me at home, and have discovered some pretty awesome BBQ on my rides.

One really bad thing happened today, and that was my iPhone no longer will focus properly. While researching tonight online, I discovered that iPhones are very sensitive to vibrations, and having mine mounted on my handlebars has definitely broken its focus mechanism. I had been sending photos to my wife and friends, but now I would have to figure out how to get photos from my Lumix camera to my phone. Naturally, I still have several payments left on the iPhone, so I will have to look into repairing it when I get home. At least the GPS on the phone is still working fine.

The other issue that concerns me is a strange sound that I think is coming from the front end? It is a cyclical sound, but I don't see anything wrong, and when I put it on the center stand and spin the front tire, I cannot replicate the sound. I will keep an eye on this as I continue on the trip (I should have looked at the back end, but that story is coming up soon).

The numbers:  454 today, 2212 cumulative

[ssevy]

Day 9 – 4/25/21 Albuquerque KOA NM to Flagstaff KOA AZ

Clear, warm

My body still thinks it is in the eastern time zone, so 4:30 am here locally seemed like a perfectly good time to wake up this morning. Once I glanced at my phone, however, I stayed in the sleeping bag for a couple of more hours.

Rolling out of the KOA with my bike packed and ready for the day, I headed for the nearby McDonald's for my egg McMuffin and sweet tea. So far, most McDonald's have had open lobbies for ordering, but no indoor dining. This one had only drive through ordering and pickup, so I took my place in the long line by walking over and joining the queue, then waited patiently for my turn at the window. When I approached, they said online orders only, so I went back to the bike and downloaded their app. I then placed my order and did the whole credit card run around, etc., finally getting an error message. Once again, I took my place in the line of cars, and when I got to the window, I showed him my phone and the app which would not work, and finally was able to order and receive my breakfast. As I sat on the curb eating my McMuffin, it became clear why they were so strict about walk-up ordering, as three very intoxicated homeless persons walked up to the front door and proceeded to swear and scream when they discovered it was locked. Apparently they have an issue with addiction and mental health services in Albuquerque, and this also explains why the KOA has that steel fence and electronic gate I guess?

I opted to begin the day on I40 to put some miles behind me this morning, and then switch to scenic backroads for the afternoon. I exited at Gallup NM, and then turned onto Mentmore Road which took me into the Navajo Territory. I was sad to see the signs asking visitors to stay out of the towns and villages to protect the elders from COVID, but it was a stark reminder of the economic disparities in this country. Here I was, retired, safely vaccinated and happily engaged in a trip across the country on my seasonal recreational pleasure vehicle, while there were many pockets of people who still had no access to vaccines or even a reliable water supply.

The roads were mostly empty and the scenery beautiful, except for the garbage scattered so freely along the barbed wire fence lines. Plastic bags stuck to the barbs and fluttered in the wind, and broken glass was everywhere. It was difficult to take a picture without including some litter in the frame, and that was also very sad to me. I also noticed that the poverty here was very much the same as I had seen in some of the rural areas in PA and Appalachia, as well as around me in the Adirondacks while growing up. The biggest difference seems to be eastern rural poverty is eventually hidden by the trees that grow up around discarded junk, while here in the desert, the arid climate makes it impossible to tell just when some of this stuff was cast off or abandoned as it sits out in the sun, seemingly in perpetuity?

After riding some quiet backroads, I eventually popped out onto 264 and turned left towards AZ. This I ran until the junction with Greasewood Road, where I turned south towards Flagstaff. The variety of terrain and the views were beautiful, and it was so nice to be able to stop and look around as I pleased, since the traffic was so light. Temperatures dropped as I gained elevation near Flagstaff, and it was perfect riding weather, except for the gusty wind that picked up the last 3 hours.

The numbers:  347 today, 2559 cumulative

Navajo Reservation




Beautiful grippy macadam (but no turns)






State line




Home for tonight


View out the back

[ssevy]

Day 10 – 4/26/21 Flagstaff KOA AZ to Palm Springs KOA CA

Cold and clear morning, hot and windy(!) afternoon

Today's ride was the best one yet. This route was part of my carefully crafted originals, done at home before the trip, and I was able to ride it without cutting off sections because my slabbing the last several days had gotten me caught up to my original schedule.

The elevation change today was wild, and it began abruptly just south of Flagstaff on RT 89A. The road is flowing through this beautiful ponderosa pine forest, when all of a sudden there is a 35 MPH sign and a curve right. When you enter this curve, you are suddenly looking into this huge canyon that drops out of sight to your left, the road clinging to the sides as it descends. Scratching this road into the sides of the cliffs didn't allow for any extra room for pull-offs, so I have no photos of this section, but suffice it to say this is a strikingly beautiful piece of road to put on your own bucket lists.



As I continued the descent to the bottom of the canyon, the sunlight was gradually lighting more and more of the sidewalls, and the contrast between sunlit red rock and shadow was beautiful. I finally found a spot to pull over, and grabbed a few pictures, but they in no way do justice to what I was seeing around me.

Eventually, I arrived in Sedona, which reminded me of CA in many ways. It looked like I had stumbled upon a nest of rich ex-hippies, but I understand why they chose such a beautiful place to retire. Apparently they have a strict zoning code, as everything is red adobe style, including the McDonald's which had turquoise arches rather than golden on the side of their establishment.

Having finished my egg McMuffin with no cheese and my large sweet tea, I saddled up and continued south on 89A through Cottonwood and then up the hill to Jerome. This town must be superglued to the side of the mountain, as it looks like something you'd find in Italy, clinging to the cliffs above the Mediterranean Sea. The route climbs and twists and then descends again, just a perfect motorcycle road. You eventually drop into the Prescott Valley, hang a left onto 89, and then continue on pretty great roads all the way to RT 71 and then 60, which drops you onto I10, which is a busy interstate with massive and gusty winds, reminding you of your old friend I40 from the New Mexico days.

Heading west into the wind, I was often tucked pretty low, and in doing so, I must have been unknowingly resting my right toe on the rear brake pedal. Because it was so gusty and the headwind so strong, I did not notice the slight drag from the rear brake, so you can imagine my surprise when I exited for fuel and had no rear brake at all. I suspect that I had been doing this for a few days, and this was probably the noise I heard that I thought was coming from the front end. While I did give the rear wheel a cursory glance at the time, had I looked more closely, I might have prevented the issue from getting worse.

As it was, I was just a few days from my daughter's apartment and her garage in LA, so I opted to continue with no rear brake, but my pace slowed out of caution (it is pretty surprising how much help the rear brake can be in stopping a fully loaded bike – try stopping your own full loaded bike without using your rear brake sometime, and you'll immediately understand why I slowed down).

I limped along to the KOA, and set up my tent in a relentless wind, having to place large rocks on each stake after I drove them in to keep the wind from pulling them back out. Today had been one of the most technically demanding riding days thus far, but I was extremely grateful that I had such clear weather to enjoy the amazing scenery. A long hot shower and some more sodium soup for dinner, and then I was in the sleeping bag for the night (actually until the soup found its way to my bladder a few hours later).

The numbers:  375 today, 2934 cumulative