So here's the full story of my little trip.
I spent all last week working 12+ hour days & staying up until 2 or so in the morning getting my B1 put together only to wake up at 6 & do it all over again. I want to say thanks to everybody that helped me with the project (this is where you pat yourselves on the back!)
I had two birds to kill with one stone, go to my cousin's wedding & then ride up to Fort Riley to see my adoptive mother & her family as I haven't seen them since they moved to Alaska. My plan was not to make a plan & takeoff saturday morning, everytime I've tried to make a plan going somewheres it turns into a catastrophe! I packed up a small toolkit, a days clothes, my laptop & digi.... I like to travel light! It would be a tight schedule to keep but I figured that'd make it exciting!
I take off about 10am saturday, taking it easy as I didn't have to be in havana (about 250 miles) until 5pm & there was rain clouds looming on the horizon & I was heading right for them. I rode slow, bee bopping around back roads I know from being a driver. I stopped in at a small town fair along the way & mingled a bit but there was really nothing going on as I soon found myself bored. The B1 was already making on hell of a conversation piece though. Random people kept walking up & telling me how they used to have a bike JUST like that or a simple 'nice old kaw man!' It felt great & made the work well worth it! I noticed though, everyone that the KZ attracted was at least my old man's age or older.... I've been told I was born too late & I'm starting to believe that!
At first I thought I was making crap for mileage, as I had to switch to reserve right on the edge of hutch, only 50 miles away but had forgot that I had ridden to work a few times, up to hoetown & with just getting her together had been ringing her neck getting the carbs adjusted, so I'm sure that's why I didn't have as much fuel as expected. Pulling out of hutch a harley rider comes up next to me, I start to wave & the douche bag flips me off & guns it! I can usually keep my cool, but that just ain't gonna fly.... Not with a newly hopped up motor between my legs!
He had a few lengths on me, I went into full on racer boy mode, dropping onto the tank with my nose an inch from the tach. I dropped her in forth & pinned my girl to 10 grand, which got me up to him & a little past. To get my point across, I gave him the 'up yours' sign, grabbed fifth & ran up to 10 grand again, leaving him way behind me. I know I know.... I shouldn't have but I have these moments where I completely lose all sight of the ramifications of possible bodily injury & consequences of blatant disregard to traffic laws. Go ahead, flame me.
Anyways, getting closer to wichita, it started sprinkling & I started looking for a place to find shelter as a wet laptop would be a real bummer. I pull into a station & ask a good looking twenty something for a dozen or so bags. Sheltered under the gas island & stuffing the laptop into a dozen bags, a guy on a late model suzuki cruiser pulls up & asks me which way I'm headed, I tell 'em I just came from hutch & it should be clear that way, as the rain had pretty much cleared off where we were at. I ask him how it was into wichita, he says I'd better hang on awhile, so I did.
After boredom set in, I headed into wichita fighting off stupid drivers & construction seams, quickly catching the storm. Good thing was I only had to get down to 54 400 & head east. I pull under an overpass for awhile until it cleared up again.
The rest of the trip was smooth sailing from wichita. About 30 miles from augusta I see a rest stop that has a sign saying they have wifi, so I figured I'd pull in & check some e-mails, as I was still way ahead of schedule.
The rest stop has I nice sweeper coming into it & I come blazing in, knee down, third gear since it was the first good, smooth curve I'd seen in over 150 miles... Welcome to Kansas! I'm sitting there, checking e-mails & four riders pull in; a CBR600, a late model yamahammer cruiser & a pair of harleys... They were nice folks, all of them completing my girl & asking questions. At this point, I had almost killed enough time to be just a little early & I would be needing fuel soon.
There's a conoco on the north side where 99 intersects 400. Filling up I realize I was way off on my fuel economy guestimation, as she only took 2.4 gallons & I'd gone an easy 80 miles, lots of it, full bore! I bee bop down 99 running her up to speed feeling out how well she felt planted, which was quite well. I don't have a speedo so that's why I said 'guestimating' my mileage & the same goes for speed, though I do know with stock gearing, forth gear turns the tach into a decent speedo, just add a zero. So in fifth, I'm pretty sure I was around 120 a couple times. I was impressed as both times I was accelerating up a hill & she was still pulling!
I make it to havana with time to spare & other than knowing I was going to a wedding in this tiny town a few miles from the Oklahoma line I had no directions. I find the only church in town & sit there... & sit there... People were starting to come out of their houses staring & kids were pointing.... I'm pretty sure I didn't fit in, lol! Finally I see a guy working in a garage a couple blocks away & walk over there asking him where the weddings at. Come to find out, it was at my cousin's fiance's parents house, north of town, I had come in from the west on 166.
I find the place & most everybody was from texas, I was a little out of place being the only Peterson male there. I mean I'm a little country, don't get me wrong but it was so country there you could cut it with a knife. It was like a rodeo with a few dresses thrown in. Two Harleys were in the backyard where they were going to get hitched & the riders weren't too impressed with my girl... I was I would have gotten the chance to race 'em! This whole bias against japanese bikes is really starting to wear me thin at this point, though I keep reminding myself about how nice the folks at the rest stop earlier were. Too bad though that's not common amongst that manufacturer's owners...
I make my appearance & wish my cousin congrats & Scott, the groom, as I met him before & he seems like a decent guy. We head to the reception & stuff ourselves silly with some killer pig & yardbird. I had mom take a picture of me next to my girl.
I head out of the reception on 75, my girl's motor sucking fumes & I fighting a carbohydrate comatose as my old man refers to it, into the sunset looking for fuel. I find a station in neodosha & head back west on 400 looking to head north up 99, then bee bop north west looking for any sort of curves I could find for more high speed, knee dragging, anti social antics....
I go up 99, through many little towns, one named climax... (I might be a little sick but that's just funny!) & fuel up in emporia. At this point the sun had been down for awhile & it was actually cold, for me atleast. Being used to working in 100+ degrees most the day, you throw me on top of a motorcycle in low 60 degree weather & toss in a 70 mph breeze.... Yeah, I was getting cold, especially in the valleys since I was in the hilly country now.
I head west on 50 & make into strong city, taking 177 just west of town north. I had taken a crappy old gas station map along with me & until this point had ridden mainly by memory & stupid luck. Looking at the map, where 4 meets 99, go a few miles west to a town named dwight & there was a highway 57 heading from there northwest just south of where I needed to be in junk city. Here's a crappy pic of many signs you'll see on 57... Curves baby, YEAH!
I know you can't read it but it's got the little curvy arrow & '35 mph' under it. It's about 20 miles from dwight to the south end of junk city, strait at first but it gets better the whole way like a killer rock song getting tighter & faster the whole way through until all of a sudden its over. It's a good forth gear road, coming out of corners about 5 grand & running up to 9 or 10 or so & standing on the binders for the next curve. Very little shifting required, quite entertaining!
I pop over a hill & take the frontage road up to exit 301 off of 70 to one of Fort Riley's gates. This is where I met the 'robo guard'. It was a bit past midnight at this point, I had been awake over 18 hours & ridden a touch over 400 miles, covered in bugs & shivering, just wanting to see my adoptive mother & her family...
It didn't go well with the guard, but I'll save sunday's adventure until tomorrow. I need to get some sleep, until next time, cheers!
September 10, 2009, 03:08:51 AM
