Earache

Who?

Todd's charcuterie board that crossed the US with me. Fuggin' huge since he said he couldn't find one big enough. 2" thick X 30 inches long, black walnut, cherry and a purpleheart racing strip in the middle. Weighs ton. ":Culley" is Todd's last name so I routed that in for fun. It's slathered in cutting board oil as I knew I'd be riding in rain and I didn't wanna get it wet.

I'll go to West Virginia next year on a trip - loads of cool houses there that aren't being used. A real shame. Food - See? You get it now! Just something until the next stop, light , fast and easy. I get it that not many others like this kind of riding but when there's great distances to be covered in short amounts of time / days - this is what ya get. 3:00 AM starts allowed me to get to the next stop around dinner time and beat the hot weather or rain. Usually did about 700 miles per day and passing time zones going east costs me an hour on some days. So had to start early a lot.

That's the Midwest for ya - tornado alley. The locals have a good attitude about it though. Fuckin' nutters out there.

Those old Federal style homes are all over Ohio - loads of them. Most aren't lived in though, just sitting there , rotting away This area is pretty hilly and not conducive to profitable farming. So they also sit empty. The bigger farms - like 10,000 acres - in Iowa and Nebraska can operate at much better profit margins. Food: sugar and caffeine to keep me awake on long mile days. It's not really "food" but it keeps the stomach from hurting and I can eat it in 5 minutes and get back on the road. Plus, there's not really anything else to eat aside from the occasional fast food joint. 200 mile stretches of nothing are pretty common here. It's Diet Dew. Not regular. They taste nothing alike. Still vile, but less vile - if that makes sense. I don't drink coffee so this is it.

5,800 miles later and I'm home. Glad to be outta the humidity!

The big Honda was kinda tough on my hands. This was the first time I rode it for any distance and the different style grips were inflaming my throttle callous on my hand. Have to get the Dremel tool out when I get home for some surgery ...

Stopped at a rest area in eastern Colorado at sun up and got a cool pic of the bike with the Sun's ray hitting it...

Breakfast at yet another truckstop in the dark by myself. Just a quick Kum and go stop ...

As per usual, up at 0300 and out the door. Wanna know what goes on in Omaha at 3:00 AM? Nuthin'! But it is about 30 degrees cooler,...

Back to the road - gotta get thee to Omaha tonight. Hot as fook out here but the a/c in the room felt great. Skipped dinner tonight as the hotel didn't have a restaurant or bar and I wasn't going back out in that heat.

I was gonna buy it, but was a couple of bucks short on cash...

Walking back out through the parts dept was amazing too. Loads of pistons, cranks and other crap for vintage restorations.

Mas scooters ...

"Yeah, but do you have any extra fuel tanks for my old bike?" I ask. "A few... look up"

"But where's all the cool shit?" I ask. "Down the the hall. through the parts bins and open the wooden door" comes the reply

So why did I even go to Iowa? Baxter's Cycle Shop in Marne, Iowa, that's why. "Your British Bike Superstore" I dunno about the "superstore" portion of their claim, but they have tons of cool shit. Mostly used, vintage and refurbished bikes...

Every 250 miles - yet another truckstop. The riding in Iowa kinda sucks...

The Sturgis Rally is going on, so I see loads of bikes at every stop. Even at "The World's Largest Truckstop" in Iowa ..

Up at 0300 again and ready to roll. I'm headed west to Omaha, Nebraska today and leaving early in an effort to beat the 100F+ / 39C heat

Out for beers and dinner with some of my bud's that live in Chicago. Brian, Joe and Alex - great guys that I don't get to see nearly enough....

Then into Chicago; another hotel room and another hotel bar. Why do they all look the same? And check out those pint prices!!! Getting drunk ain't cheap!

Passed through Indy again...

Next day and it's time to head west again. Raging storms across Kansas again so I plan a northernly route through Chicago and Nebraska. But first, breakfast at a truck stop ... again. There is little else to eat out here. It's either fast food or this. And this is cheap and fast ....

Rode Ohio's famed Route 555 - lots of curves, hills and blind crests. Sweet new pavement, too!