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July 9, 2017
Day 2 on the Africa Twin
In the morning, I wake up in some hotel on the North end of Salina, Kansas. I had the alarm set for pretty early, but I turn it off and get up at about 9:00. I want to go to the Barn Party in Peaceful Hills, but it's a long ride. I figure I've got roughly 500 miles to go again today,
But leaving early is a mantra for me on these big motorcycle rides. My mantra is "100 miles before noon". That's always the goal. Get up. Get out of bed. Get off your ass, and get rolling. This came from many rides where I'd sleep in in the morning until the cleaning lady was beating on my door to throw me out. But now, I know that I've got to get up and get rolling early.
So, I check out, hop on the bike, gas up, and roll out of town by about 9:15 a.m.
Now, the party is at 2:00 p.m., and I figure that the best I will be able to do will be to get there at 4:00 p.m., and that's assuming that I drive like a bat out of hell.
I keep pretty good tabs on my mileage because I'm trying to figure out how many gallons of gas the bike will hold, and what gas mileage I'm getting, so I can know how far I can go between gas stations. This is very critical information, obviously.
Russellville, Arkansas Odometer: 0
Fort Smith, Arkansas Odometer: 84 miles
Fuel: 2.13 gallons regular gas @ $1.97/gallon = $4.19
Mpg: 84 miles / 2.13 gallons = 39.43 mpg
Tulsa, Oklahoma Odometer: 219 - 84 = 135 miles
135 miles / 3 gallons = 45 mpg
South of Wichita: 375 - 219 = 156 miles
156 miles / 4.1 gallons = 38 mpg
Salina, Kansas: 487 - 375 = 112 miles
112 miles / 2.79 gallons = 40 mpg
Day 2
11:00 a.m. Wakeeny, Kansas: 617 - 487 = 130 miles
130 miles / 3.479 gallons = 37.36 mpg
11:57 a.m. Eastern Colorado: 761 - 617 = 144 miles
144 miles / 3.78 gallons = 38 mpg
2:04 p.m. MDT Denver, CO 929-761 = 168 miles
168 miles / 4.35 gallons = 38.6 mpg
Then, at some point, I realized that I'd crossed into Mountain Time Zone, so I'd gained an hour, and this meant that I would get to the party at 3:00 p.m. instead of 4:00 p.m. So, I was only an hour late to the party. Woohoo!
When I was riding yesterday, it was so hot, that I wanted to prop open my visor, but it wouldn't stay open. It's a beat up old helmet that and the visor kept coming down, for some reason. So, finally, I just pulled over on the side of the road, got some sticks/briars from the brush, ans hoved it into the holes on the sides of the helmet visor so that the sticks would hold it open while I was riding. It wasn't pretty, but it worked.
Also, at some point I realized that, when I stop for gas, I have to clean my helmet visor and my little windscreen on the bike. Like, these are just little things that you have to do when you stop. Go inside, get some food, get something to drink, clean your bike windscreen and helmet visor, gas up, and take off like a bat out of hell.
The last time I tried to drive across Kansas, they were waiting for me at Goodland, Kansas. It's a little speedtrap they operate at the state line. Like, going west across Kansas, by the time you get to the state line, you're ready to take your own life. Just countless hours of monotonous flat land that never changes. So, by the time you're getting to the Colorado state line, you're going 95 in a 75 and you're thinking..."so what if they throw me in jail? anything is better than this".
And, last time, that's what they did. They threw me in jail and when I woke up the next morning, they were deporting some of my cell mates.
But this time, I tried to drive slower past Goodland, KS. I think I was going 91 in a 75? i saw a cop but he didn't stop me.
Eventually, I made it to Colorado somehow. I managed to almost get pulled over by the Morrison speed trap because he was coming off of Jefferson County Highway 8 and merging onto 285 while I was screaming past cars trying to get home. I'll never know why he didn't pull me over.
I should point out that the bike has no plates on it. As in zero. And the only insurance I have is just photoshopped nonsense I made just for the trip.
Here's a map of roughly where I rode today:
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Salina,+KS/Morrison,+Colorado/@39.2965019,-103.6471597,7z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m13!4m12!1m5!1m1!1s0x87bcc060cf52504f:0x35654acfee2d6bf2!2m2!1d-97.6114237!2d38.8402805!1m5!1m1!1s0x876b7817bd454fc3:0xef00554d2d581268!2m2!1d-105.1910996!2d39.6535988
One of the things that really struck me on this trip was that, even as I approached the Denver airport on I-70 from the east side, I had no clue about this area. Like..I've probably only seen it one time in my life. And it's really strange to realize that...to see how familiar the home around us is, but then we just step out a tiny litttle bit, and you're in some terrain that you've never seen before. Very odd.
Posted by Rob Kiser on July 9, 2017 at 11:16 AM
Comments
The Mississippi gang misses you but congratulates you on your new wheels!xoxoxo
Posted by: sl on July 11, 2017 at 1:11 PM