Category: 2008 Trip

Wednesday morning started with rear brake job using the pads we had picked up in Sioux City, IA.

Kyle Jr. attempted to change the rear pads on his dads RT.  It should be a 25 minute job but we couldn’t get the caliper pistons to compress.  We needed a big pair of channel locks that we didn’t have.

Luckily there was a napa tow blocks down the road and I headed down to buy a set.  As you’d expect in a small town they were more than happy to loan us a set.  No questions asked, nothing left for a deposit, etc.

With the brakes completed we headed out for breakfast.  It’s usually good to ask a local where to eat.  We found a nice breakfast a couple miles down the road.

After breakfast I chatted with an elderly lady in the parking lot who had lots of questions about our bikes and our trip.  She was in her 80’s and gave us a few things to see if we had time.

We mounted up to head out, but my bike wouldn’t start.  The battery was deader than dead.  I have no idea how that happened.  I assume I left the key on and lights on while Kyle did the brake job.  Then a couple starts to leave, get gas, etc, just killed it.

Push starting a 600lb bike that’s loaded with 80+ lbs of crap isn’t really an option.   We had the brilliant idea to jump the bikes between our power outlets.   That didn’t work out, so we headed to Nappa to get a set of jumper cables.   They loaned us a booster box and we were able to get it running.  Now worried that I had a bad battery we picked up a set of jumper cables anyway.  The last thing we need is for me to kill the battery again somewhere in the middle of nowhere, 200 miles from anything useful.

One more thing to pack.

We finally got on our way to the Bad Lands national park on our way to our Hotel reservations in Custer, SD.

All I can say is ‘Wow’…

The photos I took won’t do it justice, we’re going to have to come back with the kids.   The scenery out here is amazing…  I mean absolutely beautiful. 

Photos are located here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mdisher/2008Trip

Through the Bad Lands on to Custer where our hotel is for the night.

Think of Custer as Gatlinburg just south of Mount Rushmore only prettier.

On our way in, this is where things got interesting…  Our YouTube Moment if you will.

Kyle Sr. hit a big rock and broke the front end of his bike.  Wrecked his forks.  Of course out here those parts just aren’t available.   So we got a tow into Custer, checked into a hotel and went to dinner. It was already late and we figured we’d discuss what to do at dinner.

The Best Western was very clean and up-to date.  We had a great dinner at the Captains Table, the restaurant just outside of the hotel.

The following morning we spent a number of futile hours trying to locate a rental truck or van to take Kyle’s bike to the dealer in Sturgis.  We figured we’d drop it off there and he could shadow us in a rental car and meet us at different places.  The other option was a one way rental for him to head home to Pensecolla Florida.  Like I said that effort was futile.  There were no vans or trucks anywhere, and nothing one-way.

We did find one truck that was going to run $1200 just for the rental.  That didn’t include fuel, the per mile charge, hotels meals, etc. that he’d have to pay to get home.

We found him a relatively cheap flight and we figured we’d leave the bike here and make arrangements to ship it or come back and get it later.

We boxed up some of his stuff and took him to the Drug store which is also the local UPS shipping point here in Custer.

When I pulled up there was a car with a motorcycle trailer with one bike on it.  It had Florida plates.  I thought "I bet this guy will take it home for some cash, I know I’d do that for someone."   As fate would have it, he was heading back to Florida in a round about way and after some negotiation we reached an accord and  he agreed to haul it back with him for $600.

We bought some tie downs, and loaded up the broken Beemer.

We grabbed some lunch, took Kyle back to the room, and the rest of headed out for a short ride to Mt. Rushmore and around the Black Hills.  Again, amazing scenery.  More of those photos later.

The plan this morning was to get up and get Kyle Sr. to the airport for his 6 am flight.  That meant kickstands up at 4am to get him there by 5am.

The sky’s opened up around 2am.  The thought of riding 60 miles in a killer thunderstorm over loaded because Dad and I would have to carry their gear so they could ride two up wasn’t very appealing.

So using the power of Google 411 I found a cab at the 11th hour to come get Kyle and get him to the airport. 

Our plan today is to hit the rally in Gillette then off to Buffalo on our way to Yellowstone.

It looks like the rain isn’t going to stop anytime soon, so I’m going back to bed for a couple hours.

 

More later.

I’m having trouble finding time to blog and check mail.  iPhone has been spotty as hell out here and wifi can be hard to come by.

We started off at meeting Kyle at 9am on Monday morning.  A little later than expected because Kyle’s inbound flight to home on Sunday was delayed.  He also needed to see if he could pick up some brake pads for his dad’s RT.  Apparently he’s in McFall, MO with no rear brakes.

We met Kyle in Eaton and headed west.  We got to Hannibal, MO, just west of Illinois around 6pm.  Most of the day and the ride was enjoyable.  But toward the evening it was in the low 90’s and we were toast.  So we started looking for a hotel.

We ended up at the Hannibal inn.  Think of it as a the Holidome that was in Sharonville for years.   This place got a new owner recently and is in the process of being revived.  Still it’s vintage 70’s with a good size indoor pool.  Rates were super cheap.  $59 for a double, $49 for a single, though they allowed Kyle to have the double room next to us for the same price.  The pool was a tad suspect.  Most hotel pools are very over clorinated.  If you got within two blocks of the Holidome you could smell the pool.  No so here, and the water was a tad green.  We didn’t care we were tired and hot and needed to cool off.  So if I end up with ebolla I know where it came from.

Tuesday morning we set off to pick up Kyle Sr. in McFall and hopefully deal with his brakes.  We located a set of pads in Sioux City, IA, and it was somewhat on our way.  We weren’t sure if we’d make it before they closed so we prepaid for them and asked them to put them outside where we could find them.  We ended up there with 15 minutes to spare.

Now where too?  We’re on our way over to the Badlands National park, but aren’t going to make it tonight.  Kyle Sr’s range is about 500 miles a day and I’m fine with that.  So we look out about 100 miles and locate O’Neill, NE on the way.   That’s where we’ll stay tonight.

The ride into O’Neill was spectacular.  Route 20 wasn’t nearly as bad as I expected.  IT was mostly straight but at least it was rolling.  We picked that direction because O’Neill was at least 2000 feet above sea-level.

Riding through Nebraska on 20 was sweet.  To the north it was beautiful, blue skys, rolling crops as far as you could see.   To the south was a wonderful thunderstorm, and we were right in between.  The two hour ride peaked at 95 degrees and sank as low as 66 degrees.  We got sprinkled on a bit but never really rained on.  We beat the storm to O’Neil where we couldn’t find a room.  Seems every construction crew in the area is staying in this town. 

We stopped and had Chinese for dinner.  It was somewhat suspect.  But was right next door to the Historic Golden Hotel.  Very much like the Golden lamb.  They however didn’t have room for us either.  Only 2 single rooms, one mini room (which is where I’m writing this from now).  But they offered a cot for $10 extra to get 4 of us in these three rooms.  We decided to pass, but if the rains rolled in while we were eating we’d reconsider.

While at dinner the manager called over to the Chinese restraunt the manager of the Golden hotel called to let us know he had rooms for all four of us.  One of which was an very small single.  It had a sink but the bathroom for this room was down the hall.  I volunteered to sleep in this room.  I’ve seen jail cells that are larger.

(photos soon when I get a decent connection).

After unpacking into the hotel we visited ‘The Office’ the neighborhood bar for a couple brewskies.  An interesting place to say the least.   After two beers we hit it.

We roll out tomorrow bright and early.

Side cases packed with clothes and moto-stuff.  Top case with laptop, heated gear shoes, with a little room to spare.  Big blue bag has all the camping gear.  Tank bag has my camelback and other need to get to items.

I hope to maintain 40mpg, maybe better.   This should be fun.  I plan to update the blog as often as I can (probably daily or when ever we have wifi-access).