The ride home

Greetings all.

I sent this long story to some friends, and they mentioned I should post it. It is long, my apologies for that, but they all thought it pretty good.

This is a continuation of the thread 'My first long haul journey' in another post.

It’s not just a ride, it’s an adventure!



On my return travels from New Jersey back home in Wisconsin, I had a late start the first day. I had to have a sign out meeting with the customer, and this went a bit long. I headed out crossing Pennsylvania on I80. I hit a few rain showers, nothing drastic, and made it to the other side before I stopped for the night.

I left out of PA the next morning, continuing on I80. I made it through Ohio uneventfully, which is pretty much the norm for Ohio, uneventful. I did have a bee bounce off my helmet, drop down my jacket and sting me on the back of the neck, but that faded.

Next came Indiana. Indiana is narrow state in the East-West direction, only 150 miles. Actually, I think it is 6 miles repeated 25 times, with a toll booth on each end. Part way through the state, the adventure took a turn on me. I was watching a line of approaching dark clouds, and they looked nasty. They looked the kind of nasty that makes you want to turn around and go the other way. As I approached this storm, I could see it was going to be bad, dark clouds, with even darker tendrils of heavy rain hanging from them, advancing in a solid line from north to south. The clouds were being lit by flashes of lightning, adding to the foreboding.

Before they hit, I stopped to put on my rain gear. I continued, and I could see the line of rain advancing toward me. Right before I hit the line, I slowed the bike, and put on the flashers. I then bent low behind the windscreen, clenched my teeth, and headed into the fray.

It was nasty, huge blasts of rain and wind were buffeting me, and visibility was reduced to 20 feet at times. I kept it slow and steady, and hoped anyone behind had enough sense to slow down themselves. The soundtrack in my mind was playing “Riding the storm out”

About a mile into this, I saw through a break in the rain a shining beacon of sanctuary, beckoning me to safety and shelter. Like the torch on lady liberty, it called to me. It was an overpass.

Ok, it wasn’t exactly shining, or even beckoning for that matter, it just sat there, dull and gray as overpasses generally do. I have heard that at night when nobody is around they like to get up and dance in the moonlight, but I have never actually seen that.

I pulled in under the overpass and waited the storm out. For all the bluster and fury it was a short lived thing. Like a man who finally gets the girl of his desire, only to finish way too soon. Maybe that was a bad analogy.

The storm passed and I continued on my way through Indiana. Now the soundtrack in my mind switched to “Born to be wild”

The next stage of the trip was through Chicago. A lot can be said about Chicago, and I have said many of them myself. Unfortunately, they are not the type of things that can be said in polite company, or in public.

My first foul up was taking the wrong highway off the Indiana Turnpike. I could take either 90 or 94. Those two meet and separate several times through Illinois and Wisconsin, so it was a minor error. I took 90. This led me to the Chicago Skyway toll way. I arrived at the tollbooth. A large SUV in front of me had to pay $3.00 for the toll. I had to pay $7.50, since with the trailer I am 3 axles. What a bunch of crap. That SUV easily weighed 4 times what my bike and trailer do, but since it was only two axles, he got off cheap. More things were said about Chicago. I saw a sign overhead welcoming me to Chicago, with Mayor Richard Daley's Name under that. I flipped it off.

As it is evening, rush hour was well under way. It was not too bad, since I think most of the people were out of the city proper by this time, and clogging the arterial routes. I proceeded along this Skyway till I was back on 90/94 going through the southern side of the downtown. I could see the Sears tower (now called something else, but I cannot remember what, or even care what) and the road turned back west around the city. The sunset was lovely, with lots of reds and oranges, purples, blues, and even greens. I think the city pollution and smog really bring out the colors of a sunset quite nice.

Instead of admiring the sunset, I should have been watching the signs. 90 and 94 split again, and I was in the wrong lane, and traffic was too heavy to correct in time. Instead of heading west toward Rockford, I was heading north toward Milwaukee. No big deal, the two will meet again once more in Madison. This actually worked in my favor though, as there was more rain to the west.

As I head north, I crossed into Wisconsin. Suddenly the air was purer, and the other drivers friendlier and more courteous. Ok, so there really wasn't much change.

As I approached Milwaukee, I could see a line of lightning storms up ahead. It was pretty neat, riding through the late sunset, with lightning lighting up the clouds in front of and to the sides of me, the bike purring along like a contented kitty, minus the hairballs. No rain yet, just lightning. I planned to stop for the night at the Holiday Inn near the Milwaukee Airport. I rode quite a ways with the lightning, but no rain. I was hoping to get lucky and make it dry.

About 10 miles out I realized luck would soon change. The air temperature dropped about 15 degrees in 20 seconds (at 70 MPH) That meant one thing, rain was going to be on me soon. A few miles later, the rain and I met again.

I pulled over and put the rain gear back on, and continued on. There is a lot of road construction on 94 through there, so I am riding in the dark, on wet roads, through a continuous construction zone, in the rain. As a result, I missed my exit, since it was not marked very well. Later I managed a turn around, found the correct exit, and proceeded to the hotel. To get to this particular hotel, I had to go past the airport.

At one point the road I was on went under an overpass. The road was flooded. It turns out the bike handled that a lot better than some cars, as there were several stalled out in and on either side of the flooding area (small foreign jobs). There was a police car on the other side, redirecting traffic, but the side of my approach there was no warning. As I continued there were a few other flooded out areas, but I make it through those.

When I purchased my raingear, I did not purchase the booties that were sold separately. I regret that now, as my feet were soaked. The rest of me was OK yet, but my boots were full, giving me that miserable soggy socks feeling . I arrived at the hotel, squished and slogged my way to the front desk, to find they had no rooms left. This is not normal, but with the flooding at the airport, and the storms, a lot of canceled flights meant a lot of stranded travelers. I knew it was going to be bad news when I went up to the front desk, and there was a lady there crying as she thought she had a reservation. I should have made a reservation.

I found A Hampton nearby, and managed to snag the last room just in time, as two minutes later another person came in and asked for available rooms.

Throughout this time there are police and fire trucks, and a few ambulances, racing around, trying to get things sorted out. The storms here started last evening, and have been off and on all day, and are expected to continue till tomorrow. They bring torrential rain, high winds, lightning, thunder, and in-laws. Instead of heading west from here toward Madison, which is the direction the storms are arriving from, I will head north to clear these as quickly as possible.

It is not just a journey on a bike, but a journey of learning and understanding. Here are some of the things I learned.

1) I need a better seat for the bike, some more cushy for my tushy.

2) Drivers of BMW or Lexus’ are 100% complete azzholes! Mercedes drivers and anyone in an SUV is 75% likely to be an azzhole!

3) There are way too many foreign cars on the road. No wonder so many are unemployed, with all the foreign crap.

4) All those foreign cars were newer models. If those cars are supposedly better, you would think they would last longer.

5) The Toyota Prius is still the goofiest looking car on the road. It is also underpowered. If you get behind one on an on-ramp, pull over and wait 5 minutes.

6) Upon further review, Chicago still sucks!

7) Drinking coffee at 70 MPH with a crosswind is not wise. I got coffee in my ear!

8) I do not know if Borat Obamalama's stimulus packaged produced many jobs, but it did produce a lot of traffic jams. I think half of Pennsylvania is under construction. Most of Chicago is under construction, but that is a waste of time, they need to tear it all up and start from scratch, perhaps with a plan this time. All of this paid for by the Asinine Rip-off and Retardation Act!

9) You pay money to drive on a toll road, but the road conditions are no better. My Kidneys were complaining about I80 thorough Indiana.

10) Harley's rule! Even pulling the trailer up some of the hills in PA!

Loving every minute of it.

Thanks for the update on the trip, you paint a vivid picture of life on the road. I got a real chuckle out of your adventures in Chicago. I like Chicago, I like the Black Hawks..hockey team, league champs..run and gun style. I like the energy in the city and riding through there scares a fella half to death. I remember going thru Chicago 20 years ago with a buddy of mine on a hot thursday eve at rush hour and getting on the wrong road and riding thru downtown thru a bunch of toll booths that spread out to ten booths and then funnel back to three lanes...no one really cuts you much slack there. I have some friends from Chicago that I see at Sturgis..that is one wild town.
I also got a chuckle on your observation on BMW and Lexus drivers. I like BMWs, I like the way they drive. My sister was a whole lot more on the ball where it came to making money than I was so she gets to buy the stuff. I drove her car..really easy to drive fast but a good number who drive them don't have the skills to appreciate what they have..and drive accordingly. Lexus is a fancy Toyota. I live in Calgary, a rich city where a 3 series BMW is just another car..same for Lexus and M-B. Lots of trucks here and we're a bit brainwashed that the imports are better but we're starting to come around. Your next purchase shoud be some Gore Tex boots and it won't be long untill you wonder how you did without them...ride on

YouTube - RIDE ON {AC/DC}

Glad ya had a chance to experiance some Indiana weather. Nice thing about it is if you don't like it wait 5 minutes and it will change. Surprized you didn't use US30 going through as it's a fresh road and faster than the toll road.

Mapquest does not show US 30 as being a complete highway all the way across. If I had not been pressed for time, that would be a nicer option.

US30 is 4 lane all the way to I64 - but if you cut off on Ind 49 you can get on the 80/90 Interstate real close to the Ill. line - and I agree about routing thru CHI town it sucks. If ya ain't watchin real close you can wind up in downtown Chicago real quick.

Great story .You could make it as a writer once I started reading couldn't stop until I finished.

Sorry for the delayed reply, but I have not been on too much recently. Working, riding, and a week in Key West with my wife (but without the bike).

I wrote this mainly for some non-riding friends who think I am a bit crazy for doing this stuff. If it is crazy, I do not want to be sane. I know most folks who ride have had similar experiences and tales to tell.

As far as being a writer, I'll leave that to others like Hot01. I am the reader, with an occasional flash of inspiration. I'll keep fixing machines, and enjoying life.

Panth