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August 30, 2004

Day 20 - Relaxing in Seattle

Odometer: 21,586.9

• Leaving Montana... in the rain
• Crossing Idaho in about an hour
• Spokane and Lis' Mom
• Seattle and the surrouding area

Leaving Montana... in the rain

I left Western Montana about a week ago at this point. Sorry about not posting, but I've been busy with other things and wasn't in the mood.

Anyways, I made my way along I-90, under an ominous sky, accross the rockies. I was already near the highest point it turned out, and so most of the trip was going downhill, along winding paths.

Montana did what it had to me previously: it drizzled on me for a few minutes and stopped, until eventually the downpour started right about the border with Idaho.

Crossing Idaho in about an hour

The northern tip of Idaho is fairly skinny, and for the first half it is all downhill. The roads are beautifull, winding paths through ravines, accross briges and I think a damn at one point. But for me, it was also done in a downpour so my visibility was somewhat limited.

Once I got down to the plains it was flat again, similar to Montana in a lot of ways. I hunted for gas for a full 40 miles until I saw a sign. 2 miles away I ran out of gas, on an off ramp.

Luckily some old guy in a pickup (again, an ex biker) pulled over and offered to go pick me up some gas. He wouldn't even take my money for the couple gallons he had given me.

I finally made it to the border, and into Spokane, Washington.

Spokane and Lis' Mom

Spokane is right along the border. It had stopped raining and I saw some blue sky so I stopped and called Lis' Mom, where I was going to stay. But she wasn't home yet. I took of my raingear at a drive in. After a short while, as I was considering getting some food, the rain started again. I called Lis' Mom again and this time she was there.

It turned out that the random exit I had picked to get off the highway was right near her, so I made it over to her cute little house. I got to see Lis' room, and pictures of a young, blonde(!) Lis.

That night, after I got a scrumptious home cooked meal, my housemate Brian called me up. He was on tour with Incus and had been making his own way around the us completely seperate from mine. As chance would have it, the band was playing the next night in Seattle. So, I changed my plans by a couple days and rode to Seattle the next day.

Seattle and the surrouding area

The ride to Seattle was once again flat for the most part, until I arrived towards the western side. Then I had to cross a mountain range before entering Seattle. And it started raining really really hard. You know when the rain hits so hard that it splatters when it touches the ground, and creates a fine mist right above the road. Well, I got that, on winding mountain roads. Not the funnest entry into Seattle.

I made it into downtown, where the band was playing just in time for the rain to stop. Now I had to secure a place to stay.

Trudy and Dylan had a house about a half hour north of the city, but Trudy's brother Teo lived right near by. After helping the band setup, quite to their surprise of seeing me there, I headed over to Teo's to drop off my gear. He suggested I stay with some friends of his who had a bigger house. Indeed, I would have been sleeping on the floor in Teo's little place (well I guess it's his girlfriends place, but who's counting).

Teo and Catleah (his girlfriend) met up with me again in time to enjoy Incus live.

The next day, I made my way over to Teo's and we drove down to Trudy and Dylan's house. I dropped my gear off in my own bedroom with adjacent full bath.

I got in touch with an old family friend, Jennifer, and had lunch with her, then I met-up with the band in the house they were staying in and walked into the lice experience. Everything turned out ok, and Brian, Felicia and I went into town to find the goth clubs, with the help of an old friend from western mass who had moved to Seattle: Devon.

The next day was Brian's Birthday, so we took him out into the woods of mount Rainer and the band played their drums and cello and accordeon as we drank wine and had a fun time.

I've been out with various people to various bars and clubs for the past few nights and just generally having a good time, and getting some rest.

Tomorrow I'll be doing scheduled maintenance on my bike, replacing the rear tire, and I'll probably head south on thursday unless something holds me up here.

Today, I'm thinking of checking out the sci-fi museum, and maybe the beach if the weather clears up.

I'll keep you posted...

Posted by Cyclops at 10:06 PM | Comments (6)

August 23, 2004

Day 12 - No more Flatlands, Geekboy

Odometer: 20,184.3

Distance Traveled: 3,294.1 miles

Long entry with many photos...

• Dawn on the plains
• Through the Badlands
• Northeastern Wyoming, and Biker Hospitality
• Day and Night in Montana
• Itinerary

Dawn on the plains

Eastern South Dakota is as flat as the last few hundred miles. They grow different things, I think I saw some wheat or barley. But it is still mostly flat.

After my last post, I hit the road. It was still dark and cold out, and slowly the predawn light started making the sky glow. Before 6am, there is no one on the roads, and in the plains, they make them straight, and stick 75mph speed limits on them.

Sure enough, as the sky grew lighter, I could see the eastern bubble of gold that preceeds the sun. Out here, it doesn't crest over a mountain top, it lights up about half the eastern horizon, which, like everything else here, is flat as far as you can see. As the sun itself crested the horizon, I had to stop and take a picture (which I will hopefully upload today, if not, I'll let you know..)

With the roads now lit up, and the highway empty, I let the bike pick it's own speed and headed west for a few hours. At about 85-90mph, South Dakota, east of Misouri takes just over a couple hours to cross.

Then you hit Misouri, and you stop to catch your breath. You head down a hill towards the river and you are dropped suddenly into the foothills. Of course, these pictures do little justice to the change. Even a movie wouldn't quite capture the feeling of plunging down from the neverending plains to see this.

Shortly after crossing the Misouri river, I left I-90 and headed south to catch route 44, the more scenic east-west road. A tip to anyone following my footsteps, do not proceed without sunscreen. The sun here is vicious. You can buy anything you may have forgotten right off the first exit after you cross the river. Al's Oasis. 5 cent coffee that doesn't suck too much, and free refills. It is still mostly flat, but the fields are more often golden than they are green out here, and there are rolling hills everywhere. The feeling is drastically different than the flatlands I've seen so far. The occasional green ravines with small, dried up rivers running through them, are reminders that I am now in the beginnings of the foothills to the rockies. The most notable thing for me however, was the wind. It is desperatly strong here, never letting you rest, comming in frequent, powerfull southern ghusts. Everytime you pass a hill, the wind not only cuts out, but reverses, forcing you to lean to the otherside for a second until you clear the hill and have to face the wind full on again.

There was a section of about a mile that was without any hills. I was leaning at nearly a 45 degree angle the whole time, just going streight. I must say, I'm glad my bike weighs as much as it does. I have no idea how I would have survived if I was on a smaller bike.

Keep in mind that despite a few rolling hills, this is still flat country. For hours and hours, I have half a dozen pictures that look like this, that I won't bore you with...

Occational hills in the distance remind you that there is hope yet of closer horizon.

These forshadowing ghosts of mountains pop up now and then, and dissapear into nothing. It is a long drive... remember, I was up at 5am this morning...

Through the Badlands

Finally, after cresting one more rolling hill, I get my first glimps. Jeff, Kristie, you have no idea how cool this feels. Welcome to cowboy country, this is straight out of a (non spaghetti) Western. This is a rough, desolate place. Jagged rocks with barely a shrub, ribbed cliff faces like hundreds of giant fingers clawing up through the gray sand. These low clifs are interspersed with rotted out plains, grasslands that are caving into themselves, crumbling into the rocky grey dust that permeates this place. It is in this place that I stopped in a small cowboy town. I needed gas, and this far away from civilization, I stopped at every rundown gas pump I found, never knowing if I'd have enough to make it to the next one. After choosing between 85 and 88 octane, I stopped for lunch at a bar that said "Biker's Welcome", and "Harley Country".

If it hadn't been so early in the afternoon, I would have stayed the night. This place would have been a blast at night, when the locals and the rugged travelers that camp at the local camping grounds meet in one of the 2 bars in town. They showed me pictures of what happens here at night that makes any spring break destination look mild.
It will have to be for another time though. Or maybe I'll find someting like it when I cross the Rockies again comming back east.

After the badlands, there was a brief return to the plains that preceeded them, only with deeper hills and odd patches of trees. The trees here are weird: they seem to have no trunks, and go directly into branches. Desolate trees for a desolate place I guess.

From Desolate to Verdant hills: The Black Hills

After following 44 through the badlands and comming out the otherside, I met up again with I-90 in Rapid City (Western flashback... how many times does this place turn up in those old movies?). Instead of going west though, I took route 16 south into the Black Hills. The Black Hills are a high mountains, with slopes steeper than most New England ones, mostly coverd in some kind of pine tree, but the occasional skinny berch tree seems to survive there to.

Of course, the Black Hills are also home to Mount Rushmore, and I figured I'd be a tourist and take a look.

Well, there it is. Just like in the picture books. Unless you're planning to stay for a few days in this area (and trust me, there are lots of reasons to do that, plenty to do and see), don't bother paying the $8 fee to see the carvings. You'll get some historical broshures that won't tell you anything you can't find online, and a chacne to walk around the carvings. If that's what you're into then by all means, go, but you can see them pretty well from the side of the road on a couple spots.

The black hills are beautiful, and well worth the ride. You can't go fast through most of them, but if you're like me and enjoy winding roads through forested mountains, you'll enjoy this place. The other nice thing is that despite the scortching sun, the trees provide constant shadow, so it is a cool, refreshing ride.

I followed the roads towards Needle Highway. The highway itself isn't very long, but it has so many hairpin turns that it takes a well over an hour to do. Stopping every few minutes to admire the view didn't speed my trip up either....

Comming into the Needle Highway from the north, you will be accosted at a rangers station to a $5 pass. I didn't see any such thing coming out from the southern end, so I'd recomming doing the route backwards, and save yourself $5. At the beginning of the highway, before you get any of the amazing views of the pointy rock peeks that give this road it's name, is a picturesque little lake, high up in the mountain as well as an overpriced tourist feeding stop. Then you start the highway proper. after winding for a few turns, you find the first pass through rock needles, more or less thin, but generally sharp looking. Here I am next to a rock phallus... Here's my baby next to a bigger one... I'll let the following pictures speak for themselves, though they are just a few disjointed snapshots and cannot capture the feeling of this place properly... I have quite a few more, but this is enough for now.

After spending a very long time covering very little ground, the day was starting to come to an end and I was no where near as far as I had wanted to go.

I sped out of the Black Hills towards Wyoming.

Northeastern Wyoming, and Biker Hospitality

I spead through the border, racing the sun to the horizon. It was winning. Low on gas and light, I stopped at an odd bar on the side of the road in, 30 miles from anything else. The hills here look similar to the blackhills, but a little less jagged, with wider valleys of grassland, and an occasional red rock. There are substantially fewer trees here however.

The bar had a gas pump, with unlisted octane. No matter, bad gas is better then no gas when it comes to a bike. I pulled my bike up next to a couple others, and walked towards the place.
A live band was playing something between country and heavy metal, and a bunch of people were surrouding the free barbeque. I found the owners of the bikes and chatted with them. I inquired within about where to stay, and was told I could camp out for $5 in the back.

On my way out, some girl who claimed I had pretty eyes bought me a drink, but felt guilty about it because her boyfriend was in the other room. I told her she could buy me as many drinks, as long as she didn't kiss me she'd be fine.

I hung out with the bikers, who gave me an extra beer they had. We exchanged stories, and watched the clouds roll over as the last light of the sun dissapeared. The clouds were dark and ominous, and I had no desire to get rained on for $5, and the temperatures were droping at an alarming rate. They told me they'd show me a cheap motel if I waited for us all to sober up.

A few stories later, we were on our way to Newcastle. I found the hotel and by 3 am I was asleep.

Thus ended the longest day I've had so far. Up at 5am, on the road for 14 hours (not counting meal/gas stops), awake for 22 hours.

I slept in that morning. I left at 10 am and made my way north towards Devil's Tower.


The hills get thinner and thinner, as I am leaving the rockies for a bit. Still no flatlands though.

I finally make my approach to the Devil's Tower. I stopped for breakfast right after catching my first glimps of the tower, and headed up for a closer look. It is pretty impressive. You can't really see how big it is from the pictures, but it is massive. I would have stayed longer, but I had to cross most of Montana, and I had slepped in late today, so I couldn't stay.

I hopped back on the road, and headed north towards the border on I-90 again.

Day and Night in Montana

Eastern Montana is flat again. Golden grassland, low, rolling hills. I've seen the stuff for hours on end in South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming, I didn't stop for photos...

After a long but glorious day riding yesterday, I was about due for some rain. It hit me about an hour into Montana. The first few times, it came from just a single low black cloud in the otherwise blue sky. I didn't bother putting on my raingear as it was actually kinda refreshing, and I rode through the cloud in about 10 minutes.

Then the road turned north for a bit, and into the mass of black clouds that had started to eat the sun, and it hit me hard. With no overpasses to take shelter under, I hastely changed into my raingear as the rain turned to hail.

I was aiming for a town about an hour south of Bozeman Montana. Viginia City, and old mining town, home to one Peter Sawyer who my mother knows from her time in Vermont.

Through most of the way, the highway is straight with occational ups and downs as it follows the hill's roll. The speed is 75 the whole way, and people go 90.

My friends, no place does "nothing" as well as Montana. I stopped at every gas station I ran accross. Mostly that means every 60 - 80 miles. There aren't really farms here, just burn grass. There aren't really trees here, just struggling shrubs. There really isn't anything out here at all. Moreso than South Dakota or Minnesota.

The rain came and went all day, alternating between blazing heat and cool rain. There are wind issues here to, but nothing like the last few days.

About an hour away from Bozeman, the sun started to set. This is unfortunate, because it is about when I started hitting the rockies again, and the highway (still I-90) starts to wind.

I hit Bozeman in a rainstorm in the dark. It wasn't fun, and I was driving really slowly due to all the winding.

I stopped to refuel in Bozeman. It had stopped raining, but I kept the rain gear on just in case. The ride to Virginia city was painful. Unfamilar wet winding roads in the dark, with totally unpredicatble gusts of wind. I was going 30 maybe 35 mph for most of the 72 mile trip. Oddly, the trip felt to be all downhill. My memory of it, lit only by a short cone of light, is of an interminable dive into the ground.

Bizarly, when I rode it in reverse today, it was all downhill back to Bozeman. Very weird. Downhill both ways...

Anyway, I stopped in Virginia city, and after a little difficulty locating his house, I crashed for the night at Peter's place.

After 2 rough days riding in a row, I took him up on his offer to stay another night, so here I am, in Bozeman, relaxing for a day before I cross the Rockies.

Tomorrow: I leave Montana, cross the rockies in Northern Idaho and stop in Spokane, WA.

Itinerary

SD: I-90 -> 47 -> 44 -> 16 -> 16A -> 244 -> 16 -> 87 (Needles Hwy) -> 16a -> 16 -> Wyoming WY: 16 -> 85 -> 585 -> 14 -> 24 (Devil's Tower)-> 14 -> I-90 -> Montana MT: I-90 -> 191 -> 84 -> 287

Posted by Cyclops at 06:05 PM | Comments (13)

August 21, 2004

Day 10 - Through South Dakota

Odometer: 18,915.2

Just a quick note from the old motel computer here in the blooming metropolis of Canisota, SD, population 300.

The ride here was through mostly flatlands. Nothing of note. Pretty, but... well... flat. Corn, Cows, Tobacco, Sky, Repeat.

I was supposed to stay with Taz in Vermillion SD, but I couldn't get in touch with her despite repeted attempts. Oh well... I found this old ex biker at the local watering hole who gave me my next travel plans.

It is pre dawn, and I want to get as close to the badlands before sunrise.

Plan for today: Badlands, Mnt Rushmore, then Needle Highway towards Montana. I will hit the rockies by miday.

No picutes again today as this machine runs windows 95 and doesn't talk "camera".

Posted by Cyclops at 06:36 AM | Comments (4)

August 19, 2004

Day 8 - Minneapolis

Odometer: about 18,300

• Leaving Illinois
• Wisconsin
• Minnesota

Leaving Illinois

I am in a library in Minneapolis, and I hate using public terminals. If I leave to, say, check my odometer, I'll lose my spot. I also can't upload pics, so you'll have to wait on those.

Anyway, I left Chicago, and drove up Sheriden rd, along the lake for a while. I stopped for lunch, and met a biker, Torris, who is part of the Rolling Thunders club. We chatted for a while, I told him what I was up to, he told me about rallies I should go to, and that to head towards Minnesota the best ride was up Route 12. So I took a left on 173 for a few miles and headed up through Wisconsin on route 12.

Torris was right, it is a beautifull ride. Through fields of corn and tobbaco (I'll show you pictures as soon as I can upload them...) What he didn' meantion was the wind...

Wisconsin

Wisconsin, at least in the south east, is very flat farmland, speckled with trees. The result, at least while I was riding, was dramatic wind gusts. Now, when I rode down to Boston, I thought it was windy. I take that back... I was leaning into the wind, as if taking a turn, just to stay in lane. Every time a truck passed me, or I went under a tunnel, or I passed a group of trees, I had to stop leaning as the wind cut out. It was a real effort, and, at first, kinda scary, until I got used to it. Still, everynow and then, a gust would catch me, and I would slide a couple feet before I could recover.

Then, because it follows me like the plague, it started raining again. On the plus side, the wind let off some. I put on my raingear and kept going.

By now I was heading into the central part of the state and it starts being a little more hilly here. (pics when I can get online for real...) These are really beautifull landscapes I must say. It is the first time that the countryside doesn't look like Massachusetts to me. The trees are different, the colors are too. I finally feel out of the Northeast. Chicago had the lake, of course, but the countryside could still have been hidden somewhere in MA. Wisconsin can't.

When I hit 94, I stopped on the side of the road to debate taking 12 all the way to St. Paul/Minneapolis when I cop pulled up and told me that there was massive construction on 12 and that I would enjoy 94 much more. This is the third cop I meet, and I've either gotten a "nice bike" comment, or some riding tips. I'm confused... Normally cops scare me, now they're helping me? What's up with that???

But he was right, and 94 was a nice ride. It even stopped raining. More rolling hills, with speckles of trees. Occasional overlooks that go forever in a country that isn't full of mountains. It's amazing how much farther the horizon can look when you don't live in a valley.

I was approaching the border with Minnesota as the sun was setting. I gotta say, there is something to be said about riding into the sunset (pic to come). It grows cold fast here after dark. I had to stop and get the lining of my jacket out of my bags, and put the gloves on. I heard the temperature dropped to 41 degrees last night. Add windchill and you have one cold Frenchman. Wasn't so bad when I got the cold weather gear on, and I was only an hour away from my stop.

Minnesota

I drove through St. Paul and part of Minneapolis. At night, they look like all big cities. I'm staying with Sabrina, an old friend from France I grew up with but hadn't seen in years. She travels a lot for her job, but she's in town this week. She does not, however, have the internet at her house, which is why I'm stuck writing this post in a library. My time is running out, so... that is all for today!

Posted by Cyclops at 04:14 PM | Comments (4)

August 17, 2004

Day 6 - North of Chicago: Evanston

A house by the lake

So, Cleveland was a blast, and for the one night I spend at Willis' house, I got treated to his gourmet foods, but Felix went the extra miles...

Felix lives in Evanston, just north of Chicago. I followed Lakeshore Drive till it stops to get there. Here's a sample view of what you can see off of that road:

Felix lives in a huge house, a block away from the lake. I got there before he did, and he suggested I drop off my bags and go take a drive up Sheriden Rd which takes over where lakeshore drive ends and follows up around the lake, keeping about a block or so away from the lake.

I pulled up to the house (which is having some work done on it). It is the biggest house I've ever slept in I think. His nanny opens the door for me and shows me a room to drop my bags in, and I head out for an hour or so. I stopped a couple times to enjoy the view...

There is also an impressive Bahai temple on Sheriden, that I found warrented a couple pictures:

Anyway, when I get back, Felix is still at work, but his wife is up. She is about to give birth to twin boys, and, Carol, if you're reading this... you ain's seen nothing yet. She'll be having the kids within a week, and she was big. A really nice woman, we chatted for a while before Felix got in.

Then he took me for a ride on his Jetsky after offering me a couple beers. The thing is a beast. It has a bigger engine than my bike. 1200cc... it can hit 60mph on the water, but I wasn't able to take it above 50, and trust me, that's allready scarry. I hit a wave at that speed and was in the air for over a second. Count out a second... that's a long time to fly...

Then dinner. He had delivered this delicious meal, grilled salmon, and some other amazing sides.

Next day I took my bike to get checked out, and have an oil change. I probably didn't need it, but I'd been pushing it and with all the rain I was getting a couple rattles that I wanted a mecanic to hear. It's all cleared up now.

Felix took me to his morning job. He had been at the hostpital with his wife who almost gave birth, but... it wasn't for that day. His morning job is at a Trading company. I'd never seen how that works. These guys have 4 to 5 monitors, these special keyboards with huge BUY and SELL buttons on them, all sorts of numbers flashing on the screens, graphs, mostly stuff that I have no idea what it reffers to. His afternoon job he goes into Chicago and is a pit trader. You've seen the movies with wall street, and all the shouting, and gesturing... That's Felix.

Anyway, I got treated to another amazing seafood dinner, including a pile of oysters, and I'm about ready to crash. I want to get up early tomorrow and get on the road. The plan is to follow up the lake, then cut west and make my way down towards South Dakota, where Allison may well have found me a place to sleep! Thanks babe!

Next entry probably won't be for a couple days cause I don't think I'm gonna make it to South Dakota tomorrow night given my tortuous route up the lake first, but... I'm in it for the ride, not the destination...

Posted by Cyclops at 10:15 PM | Comments (5)

August 16, 2004

A plea...

I have no where to stay from here to Northern Idaho... if anyone lives in one of the following states, please please please get in touch with me... It will make me a happy man!

Iowa, Minnesota, South/North Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Eastern Idaho.

My sleep is in your hands...

Posted by Cyclops at 12:12 PM | Comments (3)

Day 5 - Chicago

Oddometer: 17,910.0

Distance Traveled: 1019.8 miles

• Leaving Cleveland
• Indiana and Construction Hassles
• Chicago at Dusk
• Itinerary

Leaving Cleveland

It was nice when I left Cleveland. The sky had a few clouds, but it was warm and sunny. I wore my good weather helmet and had all the vents in my jacket open.

I'm only on the road for about an hour when I see these dark, ominous clouds roiling in. I wish I had taken a picture of them... It looked like part of the clouds reached down and touched the ground at several places. The sky was blue, but for these monsters.

I pulled into a rest stop for gas and put on my rain gear and bad weather helmet just in time for the rain to start. Apparently, I am doomed to ride in the rain...

About a hundred miles later, near the Indiana border, the rain had stopped, and I needed gas again. I was right at the border with learned from another biker that his wife, whom he had just called, told him the rain was behind us. So I removed the rain gear, but it was still cloudy and cold so I kept my big helmet and rode on...

Indiana and Construction Hassles

I cross the border and ride into Indiana. There are no pictures because, well, it generally looks like new england from here, with less hills and a bunch of corn fields. Not unpleasant, but not heartstopping either.

The weather was good, very good in fact and I was really enjoying my ride.

I get to within 150 miles of Chicago and stop for gas. I call up my friend Felix. It is about 6pm. He tells me he has arranged for me to stay at a friends house, in town (right near Division and Damon, for those of you who know the city--happening part of town). Great, I should be there in about an hour and a half or so.

I refuel and ride on.

Then I hit construction. The two lane highway merges into one lane, and the speed limit drops down to 45 mph. Apparently that means that all traffic must stop for 6 miles.

6 miles of stop and go traffic. It sucks in a car, it sucks even worse on a bike. I can't tell you how tempted I was to ride between the cars, but I dind't. The traffic finally merges, and I can move again. What a relief...

A few miles later... SAME THING!!! I can't believe this. I am in dire need of gas, and stuck in traffic. I make it through the traffic jam and see the sign for the rest area/gas stop. And I run out of gas.

I go to neutral and coast in the breakdown lane as far as I can. Luckily this is mostly flat. I cost for about 1/2 mile and coast right into the rest area when I finnally run out of momentum. I push the bike the last 50 feet to the gas pump... that was close...

I head out again for Chicago. I'm only 30 miles away, but it has taken me 2 and a half hours to get this far.

Chicago at Dusk

I arrive at the outskirts of Chicago as the sun is setting. Really pretty. I'm looking for a good spot to take a picture when... more construction. I can't belive it. By the time I'm through the traffic, the sun has just dissapeared.

I pulled off the highway right after that, cause I could see more traffic ahead, and found my way to Lake Shore Drive.

I pulled off and stopped at the Navy Pier briefly to be a tourist for a second, then found my way to Division.

Felix gave me directions to where I was staying, and I made my way there.

The guy I'm staying with is great. His name is Willis. He asks me if I need anything, beer, wine, food. I am a little hungry, and I was going to go out, but he starts pulling out all this gourmet food. Those of you who know me are aware that I am somewhat of a connaiseur of gourmet foods and I'm impressed.

Tapenade, Bruchetta, good cheese, and these marinated hot peppers, made someone's 100 year old grandma. Absolutely amazing. Willis, you're the man!

Today, I'm supposed to hang out with Felix. I'm about to call him, and see what the plan is.

Itinerary

OH: Cleveland -> I-90 -> IN
IN: I-90 -> IL
IL: I-90 -> Chicago

Posted by Cyclops at 10:22 AM | Comments (2)

August 15, 2004

Day 4 - Leaving Cleveland

Staying in Cleveland

I had a good stay in Cleveland. Ms. Allisun took me to a party Friday night. Lots of good people.

Saturday, I went to see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Can't take pictures inside, so you'll have to see it for yourself. I guess it's ok, and I'm glad I went, but none of the bands I really like were there.

Not much in the way of metal save for a few video clips, nothing in the way of goth/industrial.

They had a huge section on Hendrix, his life, his works, etc. That was cool. But they also had huge sections, most of it really, on music that while I don't dislike, I don't listen to, or know enough to appreciate properly.

If you're into the music the predates rock and roll, you'll find lots of things to your taste though...

Leaving for Chicago

I'm about to leave for Chicago now. I'm gonna get some food first, but then I'm on my way. I'm hoping I can stay with my friend Felix there, but I'll let you know when I get there. It's only a few hours drive, probably will take me 6 to get there.

Posted by Cyclops at 11:07 AM | Comments (1)

August 13, 2004

Day 2 - The Battle For Cleveland

Oddometer:17,531.4

• The Battle for Cleveland
• Overpriced Motels and Morning Riding
• Pennsylvania
• Ohio, the promised land
• Itinerary

The Battle for Cleveland

And a battle it was... I left about an hour after I posted the last entry. Nice and late. It was cloudy while I left MA, but as soon as I hit NY I got hit with drizzle, and the occational downpour. I'm so glad I have all this raingear. I was completely dry, except for my hands: the leather gloves got soaked within minutes, but my hands were still warm.

I passed Albany in the rain, and headed down I-88. I didn't want to take I-90, the tolls are too high, I was going to take 17 for free, and almost as fast.
I rode into the sunset, or at least what was appearent of it through the clouds: a brighter area of the darkening sky, and finally, night fell.

At about 8:45pm I decided to stop for food and a dry spot. I found a Pizza Hut, and ate some warm pizza and 3 cups of hot coffee, while my rain gear (uselessly) dried up. I was on I-88, about 100 miles from route 17.

When I left was when the real battle started. The opponents where many and cunning, but I fought them:
Rain: not to hard, just slow down in turns, wear good rain gear.
Darkness: Harder on a bike, at least in the rain, but the divider in the road had reflection pads, so I could see well beyond my limited range of vision where the road turned.
Creamy Fog: Oh come on... that's just not fair. All I can see is white. The only thing to do was to ride at a crawl. Luckily the fog was sporatic.

It was about this time that the reflection pads in the road ended, and I hit route 17. Between the rain, the darkness and the fog, I could barely see the road. It was time to stop.

Overpriced Motels and Morning Riding

I stopped at the first motel I found. I'm sure if I looked longer I could have found a cheaper one, but I was sick of not seeing where I was going, so I stopped anyway. I'll be sure to stop before I can't drive next time, so I can price shop...

The room was fine, there was a pool, unsuable due to the rain.I called Ms. Allisun to tell her I wouldn't be there till the next day, and watched the first half of The Terminator before going to sleep.

When I got up I was dissapointed. Let's just say that crappy toast with crappy jelly, chased with sock coffee does not a continental breakfast make.

I left at 9:30am and headed west on 17. It wasn't raining yet, but I could tell it would. At least it was brigh out. Well, not bright enough to wear my sunglasses, but brighter than night.

It drizzled almost constantly after that, with occational pauses and an occational downpour. Here is one of the only pictures I dared to take when it looked like the rain would let out long enough:

It is along 17, not too far from Jamestown (which, for those of you who've seen the Firefly TV series keeps reminding me of a particular episode).

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania was dark, rainy and windy. Luckily it didn't last long that far north. Nothing of note.

Ohio, the promised land

Well, as soon as I hit the Ohio border, the rain let off. And for the first time in what seemed like forever, I actually saw the sun peek it's face through the clouds.

It hasn't rained since then, but the sun went back into hiding.

About 50 miles out of Cleveland, I called Ms. Allisun to tell her I was near, and we made plans to meetup. I had a little time to kill, so I stopped out of Cleveland and took the pictures of my bike (on the bike info page) as well as this picture of cleveland:

While I'm at it, I'll repost the pics of my bike, cause I took them today: About 30 minutes after I took these, I was unloading my gear into Ms. Allisun's livingroom.

Itinerary

MA: I-91 -> I-90 -> NY
NY: I-90 -> I-88 -> 17 -> I86/17-> PA
PA: I-86 -> I-90 -> OH
OH: I-90 -> Cleveland.

Posted by Cyclops at 06:43 PM | Comments (10)

August 12, 2004

D-Day is here

Oddometer Reading: 16,890.2

Of course, I'm leaving late.... I had a bunch of last minute things to take care of, making sure the cats get fed and watered being one of them.

As a note, I finally posted a picture of my bike in the link describing my Ride. It's a crappy picture, but you get the idea.

(Speaking of pics, here's a wink to J&A for the photos they placed on my camera when I had my back turned ;) )

Anyway, I'm finally off. I got to ride in a downpour this morning on my errands, and I thank Chrispy for his urging me to get quality rain gear. I wasn't wearing my gloves though, and the rain stings like a thousand needles when you hit it at 70mph. But you get used to it.

Destination: Cleveland

ETA: 3AM at this point...

I'm going to be staying with my friend Ms. Allisun in downtown Cleveland, right off of route 90. I'll post more when I get there, or in the morning.

This is my last post from MA until I get back. Whooohooo!
The Cyclops is on the road...

Posted by Cyclops at 04:16 PM | Comments (2)

August 11, 2004

D-Day - 1

Trip to Boston: "Prequel to the Odyssey"

Indeed, the trip down to boston tought me a whole lot of things I hadn't found out before, and the ride was quite a bit of an adventure. Let me explain...

My bike has recently passed the 16,000 miles marker, and was due for a scheduled maintenance. So I did that Tuesday morning, before leaving. My front tire needed to be changed because it was starting to wear thin, and since I'm about to leave on a long trip, I should probably get a new one. So I did.

Just before I took of for Boston, the mechanic tells me: "Take it easy for the first 30 miles on that tire". Ok, I'll bite...

"Why?".
"Well, they coat them with a protective coat that makes them slipery, until the coat wears off."

Okay.... So I head to the highway and I indeed have very little traction with that tire. It's ok, I ride slow around corners, which is the only place I really notice it.

Then I hit the highway. And apparently so does the tail end of some major weather pattern, because it is windier than I've ever experienced on a bike. Add that to the slipery front tire, and it gets pretty scarry at 65mph... I can't even lean the bike a little without feeling like it's going to slip out from under me, and those curves that look nice and smooth on the Mass Pike suddenly become quite dauting to take on...

It took about 50 miles of wear on the tire before the sliperiness wore off, but the wind was still rough. Though I did catch myself a number of times just following traffic, and when I glanced down I was almost going 80. My baby's got some guts... I wasn't even pushing her.

Boston...

I got to see some of my friends from Boston, David, Ned&Laura, Lief. It was good to say goodbye. Ned, whose been out in the Southwest gave me a list of places I had to go to. Thanks Ned.

The trip back was a new adventure again. First time riding in the rain... Luckily, I was smart and brought my rain gear, so I didn't get wet. I was afraid I'd overheat, but the wind kept me nice and cool.

My impression of the rain? Meh, not something to look forward to, reduces traction somewhat but not too much. Pretty much if I stay in lane I don't have any problems; changing lanes requires some extra attention; and when they do construction and shift the lanes to the right into the breakdown lane, and make you ride over that band that makes your tires rumble if you drive off the side of the road, well, that's no fun.

All in all, other than the wind that really makes you work, I had a good ride. That wind though... it plays rough. It tries to make you change lanes when you don't want to, and tries to make you fall when you turn. Gotta pay attention to that at 70mph...

Tomorrow is the big day... I'm ready, rain or shine.

Posted by Cyclops at 04:49 PM | Comments (6)

August 09, 2004

D-Day - 3

I'm going to be in Boston tomorrow. I'm spending the night at a friends house, so if you live in the Boston area and want to say goodbye to me, give me a call.

As far as riding, I did a little today. Just 65 miles, nothing much. I did get to say hi to Jeff and Jen though, which was good.

Almost on the road... I can taste it...

Posted by Cyclops at 08:33 PM | Comments (1)

August 08, 2004

D-Day - 4

I got a nice 3 and a half hour ride in today. I took route 9 all the way west to Dalton. It's a nice ride, specially the last part. Nice hills and curves, but not too much of a view. Then I went south on route 8 until it hit route 20. That was chilly. Man, I really can't wait for my leather pants to get in... It's not so bad when I'm riding with the sun comming down on me, but in the shade, it's like riding without pants in winter.

Route 20 to route 10 was another really nice ride. That was mostly with the sun to my back, so I didn't get uncomfortable. And then a quick hop down route 10 to my house.

All in all 95 miles. I can't wait to get going. I called my friend Ms. Allisun in Cleveland and I got myself a place to crash. Only a few days left and then it starts for real.

Posted by Cyclops at 03:52 PM | Comments (2)

August 07, 2004

D-Day - 5

For the last few days I've riden just about every day, but not nearly as much. I had a couple incidents with the bike that caused it to go back to the shop, and I've been busy trying to get this blog looking the way I want it to.

When I say incidents, no, I didn't fall or anything...

The first problem was that my bike was mis-firing more and more frequently. Turns out my sparkplugs were all gummed up because I'd been leaving the choke on for too long when I was starting the bike

up. Apparently, you're only supposed to use the choke if you can't start it without it, and even if you do, you really shouldn't let it run for more than 20 to 30 seconds (I was letting it run for minutes...)

See, what happens when you engage the choke (and I know some of you know this) is that you cut out some of the air from the gas/air mixture. As a result you have a richer fuel that will ignite better in a cold engine, but it will also not burn quite as well, leaving gummy residue all over the place.

So, they gave me new sparkplugs for free.

The next thing that happened is they were supposed to give me a new battery, but due to an error somewhere along the line, that didn't happen... So, the battery I had wouldn't recharge and eventually ran dry on me. So last thursday, I went to start it up and... nothing beyond a weird electrical buzzing.

So, the shop send their pickup truck over and took it back, and popped in a new battery. Free.

I'm just glad this happened now and not, say, in Wyoming or somewhere way the hell away from anything. The bike is running better now than when I bought it.

I'm also waiting on my saddle bags and other assorted biker stuff I ordered, including leather pants.

Up until a couple days ago, I wasn't looking forward to having to wear leather pants. Yeah, they'll protect me in the unlikely event I scrape, but aren't they going to be uncomfortable? Let's just say that the last few days where not quite as hot as last week. Oh, it was great weather to be out in, but as soon as you hit about 35 miles per hour, it's like you're not wearing any pants. The wind cuts right through my jeans and tries to freeze my legs off. So, I'm all over those leather pants now...

Posted by Cyclops at 11:11 PM | Comments (4)