I got home 4:30am

I want to die

It was all worth it

My boss says I look real tired today and should just take care of what's necessary and then go home.  Won't be counted as a personal, vacation, or otherwise day.  Yay work.  Gotta finish so I can go home and sleep.

Pics to come later...

So there were 9 that started this adventure.  No crashes !  However............

First heat / gas stop in Port Jervis.  Little bit O' Hawks Nest then a slew of back roads towards Scranton.

Did I mention it was HOT?  I think I drank over a gallon of gatorade, and lost 90% of it through sweating - if you catch my drift!  It was shaping up to just be a hot freaking ride until Beattie and CDawg took off. 

Consider yourselves lucky.

Route 187.  Very, very fun.  At the next stop, Cru's camera was mounted to the fork of Pete's Monster.  No idea how the video turned out, but 154 is IDEAL for that.

We finish 154 and Goldenchild realizes he lost his wallet.  Gone .

We re-do 154 back to the last stop, but no wallet, however..........

My headlight and taillight go out.

We tear apart my bike under a gas station canopy, in the middle of a thunderstorm sorting out the electrical gremlins of my bike.  After about an hour and a half, it's discovered that I have two wires inside the headlight that melted and fused, shorting out the lights fuse.  Oh yeah, we shorted out the main fuse, too.

In a supreme bit of luck, a local guy with a decent supply of electrical equipment (dunno if he was an actual electrician, but he had fistfuls of fuses - also rode a dirt bike and a CBR something or other) helped out with some words of wisdom.  His house 5 miles away with a fully stocked garage workshop sounded awesome, too!  We pointed him to this website, hopefully he finds his way here. 

BTW - there is no (or almost no) cellphone reception in Bradford and Sullivan counties

It's now about 9:30pm.  We're WAY up near Alba, PA.  We now do 154 AGAIN in the dark, the fog and with wet roads.

1AM - Pete's headlight goes out.  We stop in Stroudsburg and find a 24 hour Wal-Mart.  Cru and Pete jury rig  a wiring harness for the headlight, and by the time we roll out, it's about 3:00.

At 4:45 I'm backing my bike into its spot in the garage.

Did you all notice my self-given title - Captain Slow?

Do I need to thank everyone for waiting for me after every twisty bit AND three times on the highway?  Oh yes I do!!  Sorry guys, 85mph sucks for me on this bike.  Can't do any faster.

Once again, the Usual Suspects look out for each other, leave no one behind, spend a decent amount of time kickin' it in bizarre places, and ride, ride, ride. [moto]

[a new personal low - laying down in a Handicapped spot in a Wal-Mart parking lot.]

Couple last thoughts from me:

1 - Guys - Thank You Again .  I had visions of camping at that gas station.

2 - I am a stupid, stupid man.

3 - It felt good to get some confidence back.

4 - It felt good to ride with the US again .

Where is my coffee?

Wow sounds like a helluva ride.  Cant wait to hear from the rest of you all. 

When the storm rolled onto the island i was sitting there BBQing and first thing that went through my mind was "Damn i hope goldenchild and crew arent stuck in this".  Guess you all did get hit by it, glad everyone made it in one piece

A little update...downloading Adobe Premiere right now (taking forever!). Will PM links to the videos after I've chopped them up. FWIW, I watched them last night & they're OK. I say "OK" b/c the video quality is so-so (as to be expected), but the camera has some vibrations that make the videos a little annoying to watch for too long. I've ordered a proper tank-cam mount already & have found that the camera has a little slack in the quick-release mount, which I believe is what caused the vibrations. I'm going to be taping it in the future, but think the tank mount is gonna be the way to go from here on out. Oh, the riding yesterday was pretty dope, even if my back tire was squirming all over the place most of the day  .

apparently monster headlights dont like to be on all day in 90+ heat waves

Quote from: Beattie_Yoo on June 09, 2008, 12:10:51 PM
apparently monster headlights dont like to be on all day in 90+ heat waves

Yeah, that was bizarre...two monster headlight issues within 4 hrs of each other. Strange. 

Quote from: Cru Jones on June 09, 2008, 12:23:52 PM
Yeah, that was bizarre...two monster headlight issues within 4 hrs of each other. Strange. 

Go figure.  The mods I make to the wiring don't cause the problem.  The stock wiring harnesses in my and Pete's headlights - problems...  Guess what I'll be doing Wednesday night

Oh yeah, I need to re-angle the light, too.  Great view of overhead highway signs from 500 yards away?  Check!!!  Able to spot a massive re-tread in the middle of the road?  Not so much.  I thought a dog was in the road - I went flying by it at 80 - and missed it by MAYBE 2 feet.

At least it was a nice "close call" bookend to the Subaru that apparently almost took me out on the Palisades in the morning.

I left home at 7:30am.

I got home at 4:40am.

I'm down 100% for long days on the bike but me thinks this sort of thing is getting out of control.

Granted, while the riding was great, the company even better, I need my beauty rest.

The hi's & lo's -
- The heat. Between the sun baking me and the bike roasting me, I was not happy.
- 154 & 187. WHAT?!
- Losing my wallet.
- Dehydrated eyes... they were bothering me so much until I bought some Visine.. apparently all my eye juice dryed up from the heat. Once the Visine did it's thing, all was well.
- The cooling vest worked wonders.
- Dainese textile is the SH!T! Just don't leave anything of value in the pockets...
- T's mechanical, but between ALL of US, we all did our part in getting the bike back on the road.
- Pete's mechanical. Thanks to the Zumo, it found us a Walmart within 2 miles.
- M&M's ice cream cookie sandwiches, I think I have a new love in my life.
- Riding with Klink again... missed you bro!!
- Klink & Pat helping me pull the group home.
- Also thanks to Pak for sweeping.
- Continental Race Attack tires... they're the doperest.
- Leading the group down 154 & 42 on the rain soaked foggy pitch black roads. I felt like the guinea pig for deer vs. bike testing.
- Last but not least... grownass men doing laps at the gas stations... HILARIOUS!

The stats - now if we can only manage to do the same mileage at similar speeds, I'd be home in time to eat a proper meal -

Tom's Shot Shop has re-opened!


First up we have several riders discussing the heat - pre-ride!


Now, I'm really starting to get good at this photography thing - if I do say so myself.  Caught this fun moment between GC and Cru!


More discussion of heat


Once again, Tom's getting all arty...


Now, staying cool is one thing, THIS is quite another.

[insert caption of your own]



Sorry GC, but I had to capture the moments when your wallet went MIA, all of us were trying to cool, and wondering what the rest of the ride was gonna look like.



Yes, Hippies Smell, and so did we all by that point in the day!


Soooooo many opportunities for pics, but heat and "adventure stuff" got in the way. 

We all know the truth that - adventures suck while you're having them.

Amen, brother.
It hurts a bit while you're going through it, but man, what a story for the grandkids! 

I had a great time, guys. It just took a little rest to fully appreciate the marvels of the mania. Many thanks to the chieftain for putting together and leading an awesome adventure. This crew is top notch.

Good to meet you, Cliff. Hope to see you out for another.

This was a great ride despite the technical difficulties.  Thanks again for planning/leading GC.
Thumbs up to all the suspects for sticking it out! 

Well now that I'm more rested I can better comment on this trip.

-Great ride, great roads, GC thanks as always for all the effort that goes into these.
-Tommy & Pete, glad everything worked out.  Don't forget to give those wires some attention.
- Nice riding with you Cliff, hope to see you around again.

And now some video.....

of the Usual Suspects.....

scooter club.......

going to bear mountain......... 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRfUmziNDtE&feature=related

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

 

Quote from: Pakhan on June 10, 2008, 11:19:15 AM
scooter club.......

... seems quite fun though.

I suppose scooter clubs are just catching on here in USA ?  The Philippines had them for years now.  Last time I visited two years ago, the clubs used to go all out after Sunday church service.