Rambling thru life

Today started with a wake up ride and then a visit to Dickens street in Fayetteville. From Eureka we headed east on 62 to BerryVille, tuned south on 21, turned west on 16 and road that into Fayetteville. As we were heading into town, many groups of bikes were heading out of town on Hwy 16. As many of you might know, motorcyclists are friendly people. We like to give other riders a small wave, recognizing the common bond of the open road. Now, imagine passing twenty, thirty, forty groups of bikers. Each member waving at you, hoping, no expecting a wave back. IT gets old after awhile. I think there should be a moratorium on waving at rallies. We got to Dickens street and walked and gawked. There are lots of vendors, many bikes of different types with there associated riders. We stopped at the Honda vendor and learned that they were having free demo rides, BBQ lunch and chances to win stuff. We scoped out the diferent T-shirt vendors. There is a lot to see and we check out more on the

Today (Day 2) we stayed on Hwy 19 from New Florence to Thayer and then 63 into Mammoth Springs. As we traveled South, we made a stop alongside a river to remove some of our layers of clothes because the temperature was into the 70's. Hwy 19 is fun. Lots of turns, and roller coaster type of roads. And what makes it even better is that its almost 200 miles of turns and roller coaster type roads. About the time my arms got tired of pushing, the road straightened out giving me a break, although the hills made me want to push the throttle to get the full roller coaster affect.. weee After a short stop for Lunch and a quick glance at the mammoth Spring and we were off on Ark Hwy 9 to 62, then we wimped out and stayed on 62 all the way to Eureka. We took a short detour trying to find the top of the ozarks. Never got to the tower, we think we found the road but we couldn't find any signs of it, or about it. The day ended after a respectable 387 miles. This is the run off from the sprin

Today our travels brought us 512 miles; out of Minnesota, across Iowa and deep into the heart of Missouri. Tonight we are lodging in New Florence, MO which is at the intersection of HWY 19 and Interstate 70. Today was just a blast to get as far as possible into Missouri. Mission accomplished. Shortly after leaving home it started to rain out. Unfortunately, when I checked the weather it appeared we'd have safe passage into Iowa. So, I didn't put on my rain pants before leaving home. When we got down to Cannon Falls, MN I had to pull us off the road and get dressed appropriately. Well, 15 minutes down the road, the rain stopped. But the temperature dropped; I saw 52 degrees once, although most of the day was in the upper 50's. So the rain pants stayed on until Iowa City to keep me warm. Dinner and a couple of beers gave us a chance to wind down. The motel provided us with some old towels to wipe the bikes off. Some TV and a call home to LoriAnn. Now its time for b

Its Monday night. Its the night before departure for the BBB in Fayetteville, Arkansas. I am awaiting the last load of laundry, so I can pack the final bag. Did I pack to much? What am I missing?  Guess I will find out down the road.  Thankfully we are going into the land of Wally World.  Gotta find one with whatever I forgot. In one saddle bag I will be carrying the clothes for the second half of the trip and my sandals. In the other saddlebag, I have the clothes for the first half of the trip and whatever I forget until I remember in the morning. In the top bag I have tennis shoes, my laptop, my tool kit and whatever else I have shoved into it. In a gym bag on the passenger seat is the remains of my foul weather gear. Seriously folks, I am not a rookie at this. Its just that this bike has more and different storage space. I am not sure where to put everything. I would guess that I will reload it several more times this trip and I will learn to load it out better.

For many years, my brother Steve and I have set off across the nation in search of the perfect motorcycle road. We have visited Elvis, Lynchburg Tennesee, Blue Ridge Parkway, Deals Gap, and Kitty Hawk to the East. To the West we have traveled to Colorado, Wyoming and Utah. We followed Route 66 Illinois into Oklahoma. In addition, we have spent days riding throughout the Ozarks in Missouri and Arkansas. Is there really such a thing a the perfect motorcycle road? There are so many routes and rides to choose from. I think I will leave this topic for another time. This year, for personnal reasons, Steve is not able to venture forth with me. This has made me sad. When I wrote last year about how important a good wing man was (see UTAH TRIP - Day 3 Recovering ) it never occured to me that would be the last time Steve and I would head down the road together. For awhile I really thought this years journey would be completed as a solo ride or worse case, not made at all. Then out of the blue, m

At one time in my life I was into softball, sailing, canoeing, golfing, skiing, snowmobiling, motorcycling, and other things all at once. Because of time availability, personal, financial and physical reasons I have had to focus my passions to skiing and motorcycling. Recently, I have been getting a bug for another hobby. I have thought about 4 wheeling since it has some winter summer overlap. This is something that LA enjoys also. But then the water is calling me.... Sailing, kayaking might be in my future again. There is a Kayak out there that can have an attached out rigger and a sail.... And there is Jet Skiing.... Again these things interest LA also. Although I am extremely pleased with the new Goldwing, I do understand and embrace the fact that this new toy will keep me focused on motorcycles for another 8 years at least. However, a brace of ATV's or Jet Skis would look nice in my cylinder count index. Maybe I could pull the trailor behind the wing!

Tonight I installed: Baker Built Hand Wings, Kuryakyn Ergo II Dually Highway pegs Accessories back ordered: Honda Fog Lights and Covers Top Box Spoiler Honda saddle and top box liners. Accessories On Wish List: Utopia Back Rest Belly Pan Passenger Arm Rest w/ Coffee Cup Holder for Wife Luggage Rack Spare keys Gas door key Tank scuff pads Trunk cargo net CB and Antenae License Plate Frame

First - lets not diminish the fact that a 1000 mile ride is difficult. Congrats to anyone who completed 1000 miles in 24 hours or less. BUT OK, so schedule your ride, do your ride, get your witnesses and get a piece of paper and you have a IBA BB or SS. So what... Unless you actually finish the Iron Butt, 11,000 miles in 11 days, you still are only a Iron Butt rider. Your not a rally rider! "Where else in the world do riders have to ride 11,000 miles in 11 days, while trying to find odd places like the remains of the Branch Dividian Compound, or stop by the Los Angeles County morgue to purchase a toe tag or take a hike in Lava Tube or perhaps visit the enchanted Guru Lane in the Black Rock desert in a remote section of Nevada? Only on the Iron Butt!!" Think your butt is tough enough to complete a rally ride of a minimum of 1000 miles? A rally ride is completely different than a BB or SS. You don't just sit in the saddle and ride. You have competition, check point

Check out the picture. Yep that motorcycle now resides in the Holmes garage. Its a 2012 Honda Goldwing, 1832CC, Five Speed with: Antilock brakes, built in Navigation, Cruise Control, Heated seats and grips, and Surround Sound. To enhance the stock model, we ordered the fog light kit, a rear spoiler and extended the warrant to 6 years. How did this all happen? The ST, my old bike, was a 2003 model with 55K miles on it. I took it into the dealer for a normal maintenance on Monday. This one was going to be expensive because it included the valve adjustment. We were looking at least $1000 for that. Then I was having a intermittant power issue that most likely would have resulted in a battery replacement costing $160, although I could have done that myself cheaper. With a long ride back down into Arkansas scheduled for late Sept, I would need at least a rear tire when I got back $300. Round this all up to $1500 in maintenance. After we dropped the bike off at the sho