The bike is packed, polished, and ready to go. I’m walking out the door to head to Natural Bridge, Va for a weekend of riding and meeting other ST1100 owners. Watch my flickr feed for pictures.

I made time for a bike ride yesterday. I met Bryan up on Alpine and we enjoyed a nice little ride NW of GR It was great to be out on the open road with the bike humming along with me. It was the first ride in MI this year but it was also special because I rolled the odometer over the 100,000 mile mark. I bought it with 77,000 miles 2 years ago. I don’t think that’s just too bad.

Here is a run down of the last half of my trip.

Day 5 – Friday
After an evening of reminiscing and going to the Roaring 20’s where we had pizza and watched/listened to an old Wurlitzer theater organ being played I had a fairly early bed time. Friday morning we hit the highway heading south. We branched off and took the Tamiami trail across the heart of the Everglades. It was a nice two lane route where we saw alligators lounging beside the road.

Traffic was heavy and backed up heading from Homestead to Key Largo and it was slow going. Once we got through Key Largo the road cleared and it was smooth motoring across the series of keys, towns, and bridges. The towns weren’t any too exciting but there were lots of mobile homes and travel trailers. I was surprised by the number of people living on the keys. I have always pictured them as being small and only a handful of people where in reality there are a lot of people there.

Key West is fairly large and includes a section of “regular” town and then the tourist district. We spent a little bit of time in both. We stopped for a burger on Duval Street and met a guy from Grand Rapids and who happened to have a cottage about 10 miles from my hometown. What a small world. He went to Florida three years ago for Daytona Bike week and never left.

We didn’t want to get stuck in traffic heading out of the keys in the morning so we left just after dark and rode north east toward Miami. We rode through downtown Miami at 11:30pm toward Dad’s sister’s place in Ft Lauderdale. Traffic was moderate but moving fast. 

We arrived at Debbie’s around midnight after a series of wrong turns as Dad was talking to her on the phone and she was trying to guide us in. We stayed up and chatted until much too late.

Day 6 – Saturday
We woke early again because Debbie had an early appointment. We packed geared up. I turned the key on my bike and … nothing. Strange, must be a dead battery. Push starting didn’t work so we tried a jump start. Still nothing. Dang it. Must be something else. I checked all the fuses, wiggled connections, and scratched my head. Finally I wiggled once connector and the lights all came on. I figured it must be a fluke and we went on our way. We stopped for fuel and the bike wouldn’t start. This time the connector was melted. Some cobbling and it was fixed good enough to complete the trip.

We went up to Loxahatchee to visit an old tractor pulling friend. He wasn’t home but was up in Okeechobee so we went up there. It was good to see Marty we visited a while and then grabbed lunch at the Golden Corral.

We made our way north toward Daytona Beach via two lane cutting through cattle and citrus country. Did you know there are a lot of cattle in Florida?

We got to Daytona just as it was getting dark and the beach was closed to vehicles. We drove around, got a motel for the night, and had a good dinner at the Bubba Gump Shrimp company, and walked around. We went back to the room and I took a nap while Dad and Aaron went out to the block party and fireworks. My nap ended up turning into a nights sleep. I wasn’t feeling well because I had a killer cold and the sleep was much needed but I did miss ringing in the New Year.

Day 7 – Sunday
We got off to a late start this morning and enjoyed an IHOP breakfast where we got to observe one of the cooks walk off the job. The beach was still closed because it was too soft for vehicle traffic. We rode north along the coast for a while before heading west on two lane. In Lake City we hopped on I-10 and headed back to Dothan.

We got the bikes loaded up just as it was turning dark and started to rain. Aaron headed toward North Carolina and we headed back to Michigan. Just as it started getting light we rolled into Grand Rapids.

2500 miles and 4 states had been covered on the bikes and 2100 miles in truck in exactly one week. I’m tired but I think I’m getting over my cold. It was a good trip. In hindsight our route was too ambitious and didn’t have enough time to stop and see the sights. The short days of the winter really limit the number of miles that can enjoyably be covered. The weather was great with only a few sprinkles on Sunday. We saw everything from the devastation along the Gulf Coast to the hedonism along Bourbon street in New Orleans. We passed through Laurel Hill where the Hobo Festival is held every year as well as the home of speed in Daytona. It was good to spend time with Dad and Aaron. The bikes performed well with minimal problems. I even reached my goal of over 10,000 miles in 2005.

Only 4 more months of PMS: Parked Motorcycle Syndrome.

I haven’t had the time or motivation to keep this up to date on our trip. This is a just a rough draft of the trip report. Hopefully I will make the time to rewrite it better later. We’ve covered 1200 miles in three days on the bikes. We’ve seen much devastation along the Gulf Coast and now we are in the great retirement village of Florida. The weather has been good and the trip has been great.

Day 1 – Monday
We hit the road at about 8:30am. 1050 miles, three stops, and 16 hours later we rolled into Dothan, Al. We had Aaron’s and my bike in the back of an F-350, Dad’s bike in the back of Aaron’s truck, and Aaron’s bike on a trailer. Everything rode well. At the end of the trip Aaron will load his bike in his truck and head for NC.

Day 2 – Tuesday
The goal for today: Get the bikes unloaded, look at some trucks at the dealership in Dothan, and head for the Gulf Coast. The bikes unloaded without incident. The work stuff was taken care of and by 10:30 we were heading for the gulf via rural roads in southern Alabama. It was nice running but took a while so we hit I-10 for a while of slabbing it.
We visited Bayou La Batre, Pascagoula, and Biloxi. I’m not sure what to write about those cities. They are pretty bad. Some parts appear back together but other parts are an absolute mess. We didn’t spend much time in any of the cities or talk to many people so it was just a “fly by.” I did stop to see Helen in Pascagoula. She is organizing the groups working with the Baptist’s Association in Pascagoula and we worked with her on the CU trip. I feel a bit guilty being on a pleasure trip while I could be working…
We spent the night in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Driving through the dark sections of town with no traffic lights was wierd. The French Quarter was undamaged by Katrina and the flooding but was without power for a month. There weren’t many people there but most of the places were open.

Day 3 – Wednesday
We explored New Orleans and drove to Tallahassee, Fl. I will write more later (maybe) about New Orleans. It is a mess, but there are sections which appear mostly better. It is a big city and parts of it appear to be back to normal. There are many signs talking about hope.
On the way to Tallahassee we drove through parts on Hancock County. When I thought I had seen all the destruction there was to see I saw yet more.

Day 4 – Thursday
We hit the road hard and made it to Bradenton and a visiting with Grandma and Grandpa.

Check out this video.

My motorcycle has neglected. The cold and higher priorities have kept it sitting abandoned in the garage. Today’s 60 degree weather, gorgeous sunshine, and fall colors proved too much – the bike had to come out.

Bryan and I met up with the guys from the Ride Motorcycle club at Knapp’s Corner. Every time I ride with them I discover new roads and this was no exception. It was just a small group. Six bikes including three dual-sport bikes aiming to find the best dirt roads and fall colors.

Bryan and I ride Sport Touring bikes designed to run mile after mile of twisty road or sit on the interstate but aren’t designed for dirt. We debated splitting off from the group and sticking to the pavement but decided we would see how much trouble we could cause in the dirt. Thankfully, we didn’t run that much dirt on the way up to Greenville. The dirt we rode was worth the extra effort because of the beautiful scenery provided.

Bryan split near Belding to head back to an appointment while I disobeyed the voices telling me I should go home and be productive. We made great use of the “Natural Beauty Roads” and two covered bridges on our way down to Lowell and back to GR. I didn’t have any trouble keeping up with the guys on the dirt bikes.

It is great to be back on the bike, its too bad old man winter is upon us. There is a satisfaction found when man and bike come together with the desire to wear the tires down. You don’t do for a ride THROUGH the country; you go for a ride IN the country on a bike. Your senses are indulged by smell of burning leaves, forest, and a few pieces of road kill. You skin feels the warmth of the sun and the cool of the shadows below the trees. Your eyes are opened to God’s beautiful creation around.

Now I just need to figure out a way to pay the bills and ride more… Maybe I will just sell everything and point the bike at the horizon. If I’m not at work Monday, don’t come looking for me…

More Pics

I a nice ride Saturday. The ST1100 doubled as a dirt bike. It did pretty good. Maybe I don’t need to think about getting a BMW R1200GS for my round-the-world trip…

Mark’s 650 VStrom (Dual Sport/Adventure Touring) is built for the dirt…mine… gobbling up the miles. Our agenda, simple, head north to the Cadillac area on in search of good twisty back roads and maybe some dirt. My GPS, his knowledge of the geology/geography, and a Forest Service Map (which doesn’t contain road names) assisted.

We explored back roads running between the great metropolises of Grant, Newaygo, White Cloud, and Aetna. Eventually our road turned to trail in the Manistee National Forest. The GPS indicated 1.5 miles to the next road. We could have turned and went around but we figured “Why not” and started down the trail.

The trail started out a nice two-track but soon degraded to a 4wheeler trail complete with two trenches, a hump in the middle, and semi banked corners, eventually we found ourselved on a single track. The surface varied from gravel, to soil, to nice beach sand—thankfully damp from a previous rain. It was complete with mini-hill climbs, “paths” around fallen trees , roots, and did I mention sand.

The ST performed like a 700lb dirt eating machine!. The front would get squirrelly, I would apply some well metered throttle, and through it we would go. The V Strom was made for this but I found myself waiting for him.

To make a long story, of two guys trying to find their way through the woods without a trail map, short we did find our way out. The trails spilt a couple times and we ran them all to their end… but not the road. I latter discovered the reason for the trails not running further north –a creek that didn’t show on the GPS. After 5 miles, 45 minutes, and a few pictures we found our way back to nice gravel road.

We made our way through the beautiful north on the asphalt. The area south of Canonsburg Ski Area was great. We played around on some more dirt and one sand road. I started down it and noticed I wasn’t being followed. After stopping and waiting for a while I turned around and made my way back… The Vstrom wasn’t going to follow the ST. I was feeling good about my bike.

The ride was carefree and easy going with the exception of the fear of wrapping my bike around a tree, getting stuck beyond hope, loosing it in a gravely corner, or the officer returning from the car with a pair of performance awards. I didn’t and He didn’t.

All in all it was a great little 300 mile local trip. It gave me opportunity to push the bike in ways I haven’t pushed it before. I got to spend some good time with a friend and move my bike a little closer to the much anticipated 100K mark.

I have some pics over HERE.

Check out http://www.yamaha-motor.co.jp/global/entertainment/papercraft/realistic/index.html

Pick a bike, print the PDF on cardstock, and cut, fold, bend, and glue your way to your own motorcycle. I heard a rumor that they acutally work if you use the big ITC printer. Would someone mind confirming this for me?

Thursday night ride,
originally uploaded by endofnow.

Good group of bikes