Friday, June 22, 2012

Longest Day

First day is over, it was a long day with 930 miles ridden on a very hot and humid day.
Left the house a few minutes late.  After I opened the garage and pulled the bike out at 5am, I felt the air outside and it was already hot and humid.  Had to take the mesh pants out of the bike and change with the ones I thought I was going to need early in the morning.  My first Spot marker was at a Wawa about 10 miles north of my house for a nice cup of coffee.


I went west on I78 until I crossed into PA, then followed 33 north to I80 West.


Lots of farmland and forest in PA, not much to say about it.  I quickly dispatched of PA and entered Ohio.



Rode most of the afternoon with the temperature between 95 and 97,  the humidity was brutal.  Made various stops to hydrate.


Towards the end of Ohio the weather changed and I ran into a storm, had to stop and put my liner on.  Didn't bother putting rain pants, it was so hot I figured if they got wet they would dry fast.  It rained for about an hour.


Soon Ohio was behind me and Indiana was next.  The sky had cleared by the time I got to the border.


Indiana is mostly farmland, corn everywhere on both sides of the road.


Indiana was soon behind me but I didn't see the sign announcing Illinois.  I continued on I80 past the Chicago area, I was trying to avoid the afternoon traffic but still caught lots of traffic with lots of trucks.  Once I past Joliet I started heading north but it was getting dark fast and by the time I got to Yorkville the sun had gone down.



I found a motel and called it a day.  After 930 miles I was tired, no point in continuing at night, it's the most dangerous time to ride a motorcycle.
Tomorrow I will have new tires mounted in Cameron, Wisconsin, new Heidenau K60 Scouts.

26 comments:

  1. Wow! That is a long day. The K60's may slow things down...

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    1. This was the only day I needed to cover lots of ground ;-)

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  2. Holy cow, thats a long first day. Have a log of fun on your ride and I am sure it was be a blast. Best wishes.

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  3. Impressive! Alas, you don't get to see much...

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    1. There's not much to see in PA or Ohio ;-)
      Just kidding, there is but that's not the point of this trip, I just needed to make time and be done with the new tires this afternoon.

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  4. Well doen mate, very impressive, this is goona be agreat trip report.

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  5. Don't miss Nebraska on you way by to fill in your states visited map!

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    1. I know, will have to fill that one for sure :-)

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  6. George,

    So the much anticipated trip is now underway? I remembered when I first found this blog that I thought you had balls of steel. I'm feeling that way again. Also, I've never heard anyone say that they stopped in Wawa for a 'nice' cup of coffee before. I hope Indiana wasn't too bad, last time I was there the roads totally sucked.

    Good luck with the rest, ride safe. I'll be watching your progress.

    Brady
    Behind Bars

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    1. Ha ha, more like lead than steel.
      Wawa does have the best coffee around, Dunkin Donuts is second best, sorry but Starbucks sucks, too burned or strong but definitely not good.

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  7. George:

    You truly have an "iron butt", only a few miles short. What a long day on the road. I suppose the S10 just flys down the highway, but take it easy

    bob
    Riding the Wet Coast
    My Flickr // My YouTube

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    1. Not really, pretty sore today but I think tomorrow it will be much better, will tell you later why ;-)

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  8. That's a tough way to start a road trip. Hopefully you'll get back to more sane distances and be able to enjoy the ride as opposed to just hanging on and watching the miles slowly tick by.

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    1. I needed to be in Cameron, WI, around lunch time to have my new tires mounted. Arrived there at 1, not too bad, I needed to cover as much ground as possible on the first day. Today was about 400 miles

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  9. Wow what mileage for a first day. Never in my wildest imagination do I think I could cover that in one day. Good job getting the long day out of the way right outta the gate.

    Pretty sunset pictures too.

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    1. Sunset pictures taken while riding with my little Sony camera ;-)

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  10. 930 MILES in one day is awesome. My longest is 410 (Denver to Sturgis) and that seemed like an all day affair. Of course we had to stop for cheeseburgers and to check the map and stuff. Ride safe.

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    1. My previous record was about 850 but I can see that 1000 is very doable. I'm still going to get the Iron Butt done.

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  11. Hey buddy, you're my new hero! I'm enjoying your daily progress and the awesome pictures.
    Keep up the good work and ride safe!
    Fix-it

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  12. Holy cow, George - my ass hurts just reading your blog! Incredible journey and great photos.

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    1. Thanks Tim, glad you enjoying the photos, there will be amazing photos coming up, I'm in the Yukon already.

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  13. I never did one day quite that long. Wish I knew you passing by Illinois as I'm right by yorkville. As for the Illinois sign for crossing into the fiscal state of failure, it is small and in a bad spot for pulling over for a picture. If your headed back this way shoot me a E-mail.

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    1. Thanks Jon, I wasn't planning on stopping in Yorkville, it just worked out that way, thanks for the offer.

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