MACH.19 - Saguaro Country, Day 3: Easy Too

Saguaro Country: Day 3
Easy Too
Tuesday April 30, 2018

As predicted, the tent flap stays closed until relatively late, which in this case means after 8:00 AM.  A look outside reveals brilliant blue skies, and stumbling outside to check on the bike reveals cool but delicious temperatures.

Knoxville and Chattanooga lie in our path today. Kitty generally has three rules for all of our trips. I call them Kitty's Kardinal Rules. In order: 1) No Snakes; 2) No Cities; 3) No Traffic.  I know that today I will violate at least two of the three.  So I spend the morning discovering the various layers of Awesomeness that are her attributes, in hopes that the rules might be suspended today.

All through Tennessee today, we see numerous road signs that announce "Air Quality Awareness Week. Please limit trips."  I did my part: I combined all my trips into one.  Mission accomplished.

We navigate without incident through Knoxville, and with Chattanooga looming on the GPSP screen, with traffic alerts every several minutes (Kitty hears the same GPS instructions I do, so there's no escape!), we discuss that both cities share the characteristics of multiple Interstate routes converging.  Great for business.  For travelers, not  so much.

Knoxville is a breeze at noon; and while Chattanooga presents some heavy traffic challenges, it's nothing too dramatic.  Even so, I know I've violated two of three Kardinal Rules. We talk about this but I don't sense any hostility.  Not that there would ever be hostility from Kitty (those of you who know her can bear witness), but the subtleties are there for the careful observer!  At one point I run over an unanticipated bump in the road, which causes her to announce, "You are allowed zero to one of those per day."  I think it distracts her from the Kardinal Rules so I focus on my earnest efforts to avoid replicating that bump on future days.

For those not aware of how this motorcycle communicates with its passengers and lets its passengers communicate with each other, allow me to take a brief side trip.  This Gold Wing is equipped with a built-in GPS system that enunciates in both riders' intercoms.  I've used GPS technology since 1999, and wouldn't want to do a major trip without it. Even free range bikers want to know how far to the next gas station, or how far to the destination, and instructions on how to get there.  This Gold Wing also has Sirius XM Music, Weather, and Traffic. One of its capabilities, ]absolutely my all-time favorite, is its ability to overlay real-time weather radar right on top of the GPS route. This has guided us in countless situations as to what to expect, whether we'll need rain gear, or perhaps need to sit out a big red splotch.  Today, there's nothing but clear skies on the radar for the duration of our trip.

We have Shoei RF1200 helmets with Pinlock shields, which as we learned in yesterday morning's 37-degree temps, absolutely prevent the shields from fogging, even while talking.  We have J&M's highest quality headsets, the Elite 801 series.  This is our second trip with these helmets and headsets, and we've both observed how light and well balanced the helmets are, how good the music sounds, and how easy it is to talk to each other.  We keep the intercom always live, so communication is as easy as when sitting in our living room.  Being able to communicate without yelling, without hand signals and gestures, is one of the most rewarding aspects of our rides together since 1997 when we got our first headsets. We missed out a lot on the years prior to that.

After winding through Chattanooga's traffic, we dip into Georgia on the Interstate, back into Tennessee, and then catch Rt 72 into Alabama and on to Huntsville. The clock on the bike is sync'd to the GPS, so it knows about time zone changes; I've been watching the clock on the GPS but miss the time zone change as we gain our extra hour rolling into Central Time Zone.

About 20 miles from Huntsville, AL, we see a white van with a driver frantically trying to rescue an escaped ladder from the four-lane highway.  Oooofffff. Wow, if a motorcycle were to hit that thing at speed, I don't see any way it wouldn't go down. "Unless you're super-skilled at avoidance techniques," says Kitty in the headset.  No, I don't think even super skills would prevent a get-off hitting a ladder at an angle.  Just be careful out there!

We arrive at our hotel in Huntsville, about 6 miles out of the city center.  Over a week ago, I planned to blithely roll into town and find a place.  For those who are paying attention, this would be a Really Bad Move!  I checked 23 properties, had a hotel search firm conduct a search, and couldn't find anything within 7 miles for under $300 a night.  I was finally able to book an upscale Hampton Inn Hotel in Providence Village north of the city.  This turns out to be a very upscale area with prices to match, but a beautiful venue with lots of shops and restaurants all within walking distance.  We've traveled 713 miles so far.

So tonight we'll play walkabout tourist in this "village", and tomorrow we plan to spend the day at the US Rocket and Space Center, basically a no-travel day.  I've even booked a cab for 8:30 AM so we can keep the bike parked where it is, right in front of the hotel, and dress in normal tourist clothes for tomorrow's activities.  Don't judge me.

MACH.19 - Saguaro Country Day 2: Escapade

Saguaro Country

Day 2: Escapade
Monday April 29, 2019

One day long ago at an undisclosed location, the first biker to set up an overnight tent awoke and, I'm sure, threw back the tent flap for his first act of the day, and observed the weather. For many, the tent flap has been replaced by cell phones and The Weather Channel,  but the primeval urge to see what's in store for the day makes us all still do the same thing.

I throw back the tent flap... er, check WeatherBug on my phone... a little after 7am.  37F. THIRTY SEVEN DEGREES FARENHEIT!!  I've been scoping out temeratures in faraway places in the deserts and Arizona high country, but didn't anticipate these temperatures less than 200 miles from home! My casual decision not to include our leather cold-weather riding gear doesn't seem quite so casual this morning.

But we gear up in layers with the jacket liners and mesh jackets and decide to have a quick bite at McDonald's a mile up the road.  There we are rewarded with a friendly credit card chip scanner that provides a pleasant chime when it's time to remove the card. Most of these scanners issue a guttural "MEEP-MEEP" as an incentive to remove the card when finished processing.  I love this scanner.

Thus off to the California Sidecar factory five miles south, where my Escapade Excel wheel bearing were repacked by Ada, one of the two trailer assemblers. Trailer bearings on these small wheels should be repacked annually; those 12" wheels have a high rotation at 70 mph.  I usually do this job myself but with the trips to work on Dad's estate and an otherwise busy schedule, I just haven't had the time. While waiting, I chat with Dwight, the sales guy who's been there at least since 1997 when I got my first Escapade trailer, and Scott, the service guy who's been there just as long.  This is a first-rate company staffed by first-rate, caring folks.  This is my third Escapade trailer (the first was demolished in a rear-end collision down on the Sabine River on the Texas-Louisana border, but that's another story).

"I slept for only an hour last night," Kitty announces.  "No more strong black coffee for me after dinner!" We strike out in late morning for the general direction of Huntsville AL, 560 easy miles with two easy days to ride them.  By this time it's 47 degrees with heavy overcast; we're both using the heated seat feature, and in addition I've turned on the heated grips and opened the heater vents in the lower fairing.  I'm warm enough, but Kitty, in back where the still-air envelope collapses around her shoulders, is always more chilly than the rider.

After several hours of riding we eventually stop in Christiansburg VA for an early fuel stop and to warm up.  We have a bite of lunch at the Subway associated with the gas station.  After ew order and I insert the credit card into the chip reader.  When it is done, it says MEEP-MEEP. After hanging out for an hour and a half, we are both warmed up and the skies are crystal blue. With the clouds gone it's about 10F warmer than when we arrived.

Kitty puts on a balaclava in addition to what she's already wearing; we gear up and saddle up. "I'm too warm!" Kitty announces in the headset as roll out.

Fifty or so miles later we've run out of the Appalachian mountains into the flatlands of eastern Tennessee, where the temperature is a pleasant 82F.  Except we're still dresssed for 50-degree temperatures, and now we really are hot even with all the heated stuff turned off.  After a fuel stop and a modified undressing ceremony for both of us, we decide to ride out the last 80 miles or so of our 325-ish mile day to Morristown TN, where we've staged for quite a few overnight stops.

We finish the ride under sunny skies and a pleasant 82F to arrive at out stop.  When traveling in an ad hoc fashion without a known destination, I often call ahead in the afternoon to make a hotel reservation, but on this day we take our chances and have no problem finding a room.

We've seen a 47-degree swing in temperatures today, one of the highest single-day variations of our trips together. Tonight I hope Kitty can make up for the last night's sleeplessness; we have an easy ride of less than 300 miles tomorrow, about half of which is likely to be Interstate.  Tomorrow we sleep in. The tent flap can stay closed for as long as it wants.

MACH.19 - Saguaro Country Day 1: Easy Rider

Saguaro Country

Day 1: Easy Rider

April 28, 2019

It’s been a crazy 18 months.  Last year seems like a lost year because of family responsibilities while Dad was in hospice for 280 days due to an intractable hip infection.  Much of last year we lived away from home.  Dad passed away in late October 2018, and the family has slowly been trying to understand and live the new normal.  I’m a co-executor of the estate, so that has taken more hours than I would have guessed, and we’ve spent numerous weekends going through the contents house.

In 2018, Kitty and I managed only one overnight ride, to Knoxville TN to have Lewis Preston of Electrical Connection install LED headlights to our bike, named Crusader. Otherwise just a few day rides here and there.  So far this year, one ride to the Honda shop and home is literally all I’ve managed.

By God’s grace and the family’s blessing, somehow we’ve carved out a three week respite wherein tomorrow, we plan to strike out on a 6,000+ mile two-up ride. Kitty has been everywhere on the North American continent, USA and Canada, except for the Saguaro cactus deserts, so that’s our primary target. We've planned stops in Vicksburg, MS to eat crawfish (Mississippi Area Crawfish Hunt, or MACH.19), a little time with family in Gulfport, MS, wandering around in the deserts of Arizona and Utah, our third visit to the Grand Canyon, a bit of circuitous wandering through New Mexico in the general direction of home, and then a super-slab ride home.

Kitty and I have experimented for the past couple months with SpotWalla, an Internet cell phone technology that uses GPS signals from compatible devices, broadcast over the Internet to a web site that in turn drops breadcrumbs onto a map.  I use the Bubbler GPS app on my Android phone, having set it to update every 10 minutes.  Thus anyone with the link can see real-time updates (with a 10-minute delay) as to the route, speed, location, and other parameters.  I plan to use that on this trip; I have an on-board GPS unit on my Gold Wing, and I’ll still download GPS tracks as usual, but will load them into the computer and the mapping software after the fact.  SpotWalla seems to do a good job, with the added advantage that the maps can be zoomed on a PC and pinch-zoomed on a phone.  The current link for this trip (cannot guarantee that it won’t become a dead link in the future) is this SpotWalla link.  I have the link configured to protect some secure zones where data won’t be shown, and otherwise the link is configured to show the entire trip.

During this trip, I might blog. I might provide a SpotWalla link. I might post Facebook updates. Time will tell. I'm a free range biker, traveling with my favorite free range biker chick.

After significant planning, shuffling of schedules, and revamping of our packing lists, I think we're ready.

So now, after streaming one of our church services this morning, we lazily finish packing up our luggage and loading the trailer.  All this luggage begs the question about what happened to the couple who would strike out for the weekend with an extra pair of underwear, a T-shirt and jeans, and be perfectly content.  After performing the Dance of the Repositioning Vehicles in a Single-Car Garage, I back the bike and trailer out of the driveway, almost surprised I still remember how to back a trailer; we connect our helmet intercom, and we’re on the road at 1:40 PM for our lazy afternoon ride.

The morning rain has moved out, leaving in its wake a beautiful mid-70's kind of day. In an easy-rider break-in ride, we have a lovely short 120+ mile day to Lovingston, VA, near the location of the California Sidecar factory, where tomorrow morning I've made an appointment for some minor service to the trailer.  Lovingston is a tiny village, and we stay in what I believe is the only motel.  We intend to walk about a mile into town to a café for dinner, but the four-lane highway really doesn’t work for that.  So we cross the highway and wander into a wonderfully surprising little Italian restaurant called Vito’s.  We’ve been there once before but I’ve forgotten what a little gem it is, an unassuming tiny place by the wayside along a country four-lane road.

Tomorrow we plan to be at the California Sidecar factory early, and then start heading toward Huntsville AL where we hope to spend a day at the US Space and Rocket Center.