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29 August 2006

Finally, the wait is over!

emailto: hun@bikerenews.com

Editor's Note: the pictures that accompany this installment of Rich's Road report can be found by clicking here., And then you can view the pictures taken by Rich's traveling companions
David Joyner's Sturigs 2006
Pictures of Ron's 2006 Sturgis Experience
Re Visiting Sturgis through Ed's Camera

After all these months of planning and waiting, we are now ready to put our plan into action. Our bikes have been serviced, tires replaced, washed, tuned up, or whatever we thought was necessary for the trip to the great western spaces.

There will be four truck and trailer combinations for the journey. Tom Silva in a Ford F-150 towing a borrowed "Haulmark" motorcycle trailer; Joe Mustaca with his F-150 Harley pulling another Haulmark; Ron Morton with his Diesel powered Chevy also pulling a Haulmark, and Carl Morrow with a Diesel powered Ford Expedition, pulling Ed Leonard's Toy Hauler. The "passengers" with Joe, Greg Cade; Tom, David Joyner's Harley (David will fly in); Ron, Jerry Chiusano, Fred and Ricky Broccolo; and me with Carl and Ed.

Thursday, August 3rd, the time is 1445, I am piling the camping gear and clothes in my wife's car, and preparing to ride over to the rescue station on Pleasure House road. I have new tires, fresh oil, and the Valkyrie has been washed and dried. I cruise north on Independence, and make my way over to the station.

It is WAY too hot this afternoon, we should have done this on a nice cool Sunday morning, I would have had to ride a truck to work, but that is a minor thing. Carl and Ed are adept at loading their stuff in the Toy Hauler, and after they hook the truck to the trailer, we get started. Carl's red Harley goes in first, nestled all the way forward in between the sink and refrigerator. Next up is my Valk, I try to ease it up the ramp, which turns out to be steeper than it looks, but am able to get it inside without too much trouble.

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Hmmmm, the Valk is a little longer than the standard Harley, and we have to adjust the position of Carl's bike another foot or so toward the front. Next trick is to scoot it over to the left side and strap it securely in place with the nylon tie downs. It gets a little tricky, the flat six engine on the Valkyrie has some extra width for us to deal with, but persistence pays off. Finally Ed pulls his Harley up into the remaining space, and it too is tied down. We check and recheck the clearance and strap tension. Then comes the easy part, we toss in the suitcases, clothes bags, and anything else that we brought along. Hey I could get spoiled with all this extra room.

A couple of quick goodbyes to Jean, and we roll on to the rendezvous point which is the DOT parking lot in Chesapeake. Then we get the phone call. The Broccolo brothers were in route from Fredericksburg, on the approach to the tunnel, Fred wrecked his bike. We don't know all the details, but it does not sound good. Bike is totaled; Fred is in the Trauma center in Newport News.

we proceed on to the DOT lot where we join up with Tom and Joe. A couple of quick pictures, we form up a three truck convoy, and head for the hospital via I-664. This turns out to be a good choice, there was another wreck in the Hampton Roads tunnel, and the back up on I-64 is severe. At the hospital we find out the news is really not good. Fred has a broken arm, and is scheduled for surgery. There is no way he is going to make the trip with us, so we load up Rickey's bike and head out in a westerly direction. Its 2130, we are slightly behind schedule, but plan to make up for it once on the "superslab'. That is, if we don't run into any more problems.

That is a major topic as we head for Afton Mountain in western Virginia. Our last trip, in 2004 was plagued by problems, a fire, and various mechanical troubles slowed us down. We spent a little over four days getting to South Dakota. Let's hope this year is better.

Ed has provided us with some hand held radios. They are basically the Walkie-Talkie type, with a line of sight range of about three miles. No one else is using this particular frequency, so we have the luxury of communication whenever we please. The ancient Romans knew the importance of reliable communications, and that principle still holds today. We were able to quickly and easily discuss fuel states, rest stops, and other situations. The lead truck could alert the others of road hazards and traffic conditions. We were organized!

I could not help but think about the situation we ran into on the previous trip as I sat there watching the scenery. As we approached Richmond, we took the I-295 bypass around the city. This is recommended for any time of the day or night. Richmond is such a tangle of exits and entrances that even with no traffic, it is still a hassle. Anyway, we slip past the congestion and keep rolling west.

The radios are marvelous! We coordinate a fuel and pit stop, and then get back on the road again. Time goes by, I get real comfortable in the Excursions big reclining seat and I somehow manage to doze off for an hour or three. When I wake up, we are at another fuel stop, this one is close to the junction of Interstate 81, hmmm I start thinking again; we're closing in on the area where the first breakdown occurred in '04. Will we be able to break the jinx and keep going?

Yes! We pass the truck stop, and "Cash's Truck Repair" shop. Hot dog, we start up Afton Mountain, the Excursion's big Diesel starts making a little more noise, but it is a good sound, and does not miss a beat, we keep a steady speed up the big grade, what a great feeling! Yep, we are definitely not going to get stopped on this one.

We hit the West Virginia border and keep snorting up hill on the famous turnpike. I kind of snooze some more, when I wake up again we are stopped at the "Grandview Shell & Convenience Store" 2265 Grandview Rd Beaver, WV 25813. The time is "Real Dark thirty" which is somewhat later than "O dark thirty" (sailors understand this kind of timekeeping). I check out the store, buy a cup of coffee and get back in the truck. I manage to stay awake for awhile, but pretty soon I am snoozing again, when I do wake up it is early morning.

We keep rolling, the big Diesel is not slowing down or missing a beat, we are now through Indiana, and somewhere in Illinois, closing in on Saint Louis. Communication is great, we talk to Ron, who finds the exit for "Okawville", and we make plans to stop for fuel and a sandwich. Here we are at the "Hen House Family Restaurants" on Route 164 & State Route 177, Okawville, IL. We grab a quick sandwich, take a couple of photos and depart, as I mentioned to the guys, "Two days ahead of last time".

A friendly trucker has tipped us off on some road congestion, and suggested an alternate route, so we follow his instructions and leave the interstate travel due North to pick up I-70. This has several benefits. It gets us around the problems on I-64, and sets us up to miss the city of Saint Louis. Like Richmond, this city is a nightmare of tangled concrete and unreal congestion. We have the luxury of viewing the famous arch from about ten miles north, and a steady roll to the West.

Our next big milestone is Kansas City Missouri, just across the river from Kansas City Kansas. Here we pickup 435 North and blend in to I-29, we are really making good time, less than twenty four hours into the trip, and we are past the halfway point. I-29 is our last stretch before hitting I-90 and South Dakota. Once again we stop for fuel and a sandwich. The truck stop is OK for fuel, but the restaurant is terrible, still, the food does not make me sick, and I am more interested in getting back on the road than eating a gourmet meal.

It is just getting dark when we depart the fuel stop, and we are really getting stoked about the trip. We have gotten a couple of "Fred reports", it sounds like he is going to try to get a flight to Rapid City. His arm has a metal plate in it, and he has a couple of broken digits, but if he can get the flight, he will join us just the same. We have a good time telling Fred's Brother Ricky that he will be responsible for riding Fred around "B-Yotch".

North along the border of Missouri and Kansas, then Iowa and Nebraska, around 0230 we pull into a rest stop, everyone is pretty tired, and we see no reason to push it, so all hands get comfortable and take a nap. Sleeping in a moving truck is somehow not as restful as sleeping in a stationary one, and that couple of hours is magical. We wake up and start rolling again, next stop will be Sioux Falls SD!

We decide to indulge ourselves a little more and eat a good breakfast at the "Flying J" truck stop. Then, on the way out, we pull in to the friendly Harley Davidson dealer for a quick look around. Even at this early hour, there are plenty of folks in the dealership. We check the place out, and then get back on the road again; after all, there are plenty of motorcycles to look at when we get to Sturgis.

The road is more crowded now, and the traffic contains many more motorcycles. The various and sundry rigs are a show all their own. One trailer is being pulled (slowly) by a small school bus. The bus is one of those built on a van chassis, and is really struggling to make its way up the long grades leading in to Sturgis. Unlike the big diesel we are riding in, which just roars a little and keeps on trucking.

Sturgis is close; we made a quick fuel stop in Rapid City, and are now in the section marked "Through traffic use left lane". The off ramp is crowded, but the traffic is still rolling along through town. We take the right turn at Douglas street to try to skip some of the down town madness. At last we arrive at the famous "Glencoe camp grounds", we check in without any delay, everyone was prepaid, so all they had to do was a quick check and snap a wrist band on us.

We wind through the campsites, and finally settle on a spot that is reasonably close to one of the outhouses, and right next to a water spigot. We are in what is known as a "dry" site; no permanent water connection, no waste water line, and no power. That could all be had for an extra $450.00; maybe next time. The trailers are maneuvered into a box formation with plenty of room in the middle for us to group up. Joe, Ed, Jerry and Greg recover one of the big picnic tables for the center. Some of those handy little "easy up" tents are deployed to provide shade and shelter for the bikes, and we settle right in and get comfortable.

More to come:

(as in Attila, not as in sweetie)
hun@bikerenews.com

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