Sunday, May 18, 2008

Finally On the Road

Well, finally got myself into a hotel with some internet! I'm here in ol' Carbondale, Illinois relaxing at the Super 8. Been a very quick past couple of days so, here's a recap:

Friday May, 16
Some reminders for the pilot....


Woke up to the wonderful sound of a steady rain. Not quite how I wanted to start off. First new thing I learned: I packed a lot of stuff and that made the bike feel very different from how I'm used to it feeling. I re-adjusted the suspension settings to try and accommodate the load, it seems to have helped some, but it doesn't really help when you introduce an unbalanced load to the situation. The left saddle bag was much heavier than the right. It's almost as if I've never traveled on a motorcycle.

Next thing I learned: Stopping with a much heavier bike than usual takes more stopping distance. A fairly easy concept to grasp, but, I've never had it loaded up this heavy before.

Followed quickly by: Heavy bike + rain = much much longer stopping distance.

The rain broke immediately as I crossed over the Ohio River (1st of 3 times) and I took to the back roads of Ohio. I must say, state route 147 was an amazing stretch of pavement. I would like to hit that without the gear and the wet roads. Twisty goodness.

Later on in the day, I oddly enough ended up on a dirt road. GPS devices are awesome, but sometimes, the routing leaves a little to be desired. But the road was in really good shape as you can see. Hey, it's an adventure right?


Then I hit up the famed (at least for motorcyclists) route 555. Very amazing, but pretty treacherous and down right scary at the same time. The state mowed the edges and discharged all the grass right onto the road. So you'd be bounding along and BAM! large patches of grass right in your path. I got some excellent footage on video from this section, I can't wait to check it out.

As I arrived in lovely Athens, the sun broke through and it turned into a great ending for the day. I met up with my friend Kev and we got together with Sven and some of the other film school folks.

Saturday, May 17
After a very late night of watching Kev layout several new film plots on a chalk board, discussing the philosophy of cartoon shows from the 80s/90s, and an encounter with the deranged, I awoke to a beautiful day outside. Kev cooked up some breakfast and I got rolling down the road. Spent a good bit of time on a divided highway and made some great time across Ohio and got into the good stuff coming down route 41. Again, a folly of mine...no taking pictures and just too eager with the ride (in nice weather).

When I took a break at the Ohio River, I saw I had a voice mail. Crap on a stick! I left (almost) all my device chargers at Kev's place. (Update: The plan is to overnight them to me in Branson, where I'll be tomorrow).

I threw on the camcorder and got a nice little shot going on the Ohio then and some of route 68 down into Lexington. Got to Wilmore, KY right around 3 PM. I spent the next two frustrating hours trying to find a place to stay. I ended up at the luxurious digs of the Turfmor Motel. Behind the Marathon Gas Station. Yeah.

Eh, it wasn't bad. It was clean (except for that faint smell of sewage), quiet, and a place to stay dry. Tuesday was a bad for pictures. I was too mad/distracted/preoccupied with leaving those chargers behind.

Sunday, May 18
Woke up and called over to Branson, MO and booked a room for two days. Thank goodness. Passed word onto Kev to send it to the hotel directly and hope that on Tuesday it arrives and I'll be set. My mind was put at ease and I could get on with it.

Got on the road around 8:30 and roads were wet for a good part of the day. Took route 68 for a good bit of time in the morning. There sure are some really nice stretches of road. Wouldn't it be nice if you could see some? Sorry. After some thinking, I realized that I better start taking picture or there will be beatings when I get home. So I took a break in Honest Abe's hometown of Hodgenville, KY.

See all that dirt on the back..that's from the dirt road in Ohio.


I threw the smaller camera on my lanyard and stuck it in my pocket and figured, it's time to get some shots from on the road. Yup, I did. Too bad I had my finger over the lens for most of them...*sigh*...I'll get there, I swear!


Crossed over the Ohio for the last time (or is it?) and took some pictures of the bridge. Pretty neat suspension bridge. See that finger? It's always in the way!


Rolled over Indiana and Illinois fighting some terrible crosswinds and quite unspectacular scenery. I had hoped for a little more, but I think my route choice was poor since most of the area where I crossed the river entailed more divided highway. But, I needed to make it here to get a good shot at Branson tomorrow.

Alright, that's it for me...time to find some food on a Sunday night and I'll post an update tomorrow.

3 comments:

homefolks said...

It' a lot of rain so far, some frustrations, and a lot of "adventure." I even think I could enjoy it. Especially if you would take me to see an Andy Williams or Marie Osmond show while in Branson! Remember ADVENTURE is the name of the game! You will talk about these first couple of days for years to come. Great pic's, including the finger. ....Your folks. Can't wait to talk to you.

Method said...

I know it will be tough getting up tomorrow and realizing that you can't join the rest of us at work for another five whole weeks, but do your best to soldier on man. I'll attempt to keep Turtle from burning the place down while you're gone.

Sis said...

Been waiting anxiously to read your messages from the road. Seems if you've taken on the Simko Motto of "(&*@#"!)...nothing is ever easy." The reward comes in the end. We will live vicariously through you, Butchy!
Lots of love, Jen