http://picasaweb.google.com/2007xl50/2009FrontierHOG5CornersAndACurve#5342089696516131522
Besides riding 1000 miles and riding in 6 states and riding from one corner of Nebraska to the other (the long way) in 18 hours Carla and I managed to have a VERY GOOD time. We rode with the Frontier, Harley Owners Group Chapter out of Lincoln. The object was to ride to the 5 Corners of Nebraska and the curve (Missouri River in the Northeast) in three days. Carla and I started off by going through Rulo NE (the Southeast) first. That was the last scheduled stop for the HOG Chapter but they were leaving from Lincoln. We crossed the Missouri river at Rulo and headed up I-29 through Missouri and Iowa. We hit the scheduled stop at Newcastle NE and on the way west we rode the extra 20 miles up to Yankton SD for gas. It was a long way across the state and by the time we reached our motel to stay Friday night in Chadron we had racked up 725 miles and (Kansas, Neb.,Mo., Iowa and SD) 5 states. It was only 6 o'clock so my wild intellect said we only needed 275 more miles for a 1000 miles in 24 hours which in the motorcycle world is something special and you get an "IRON BUTT" label after your name. We can head west, pickup our third stop in Harrison, (the Chapters second stop) keep on going west for another 9 miles and pickup another state. OK, let's do it! Although we were planning on going west to makeup the extra miles we needed, by the time we got into Wyoming the combination of the sun going down and the rise in altitude, the temperatures were dropping fast. Since the cold weather gear we had used to start with in the morning was back in Chadron in the Western Motel, we headed back. After redressing for the, by then COLD weather, we headed east. It just so happened that we needed 152 miles now for the 1000 mile day. It just so happened that on our way into Chadron on Highway 20 we had taken a rest break right by a sign that said 76 miles to Chadron. My math skills were still sharp enough to know, out there and back would give us 1000 miles. It was cold, it was getting late and we knew it would be around midnight when we got back. Rather than give up and go to bed we decided to go for it. It was cold, it was dark, it was cold and we had seen the highway patrol east of town this afternoon and he just had another one pulled over 10 miles east of town now. To make this thing work we were going to have to speed a little and we would have to come back by this guy again unless he decided to go home before 12. The 76 miles out were cold and long but after we turned around and headed back with only 76 miles to go it was like down hill. That time of the night in western Nebraska there are no cars on the highway. The cop must have gone home. We didn't see anyone.
Although we figured on sleeping in Saturday morning, we didn't. After the first bike started up we were ready to get ready. There were 80 riders on 56 bikes split up in two motels in Chadron. Saturday night in McCook we were all in the Cheif Motel. As everyone was going west to Harrison and their second stop and we had taken care of it last night we headed south to Scottsbluff National Monument.
After we hit the two stops in Southwest Nebraska we headed south on 385 though eastern Colorado. The scenery had varied a lot along the way and eastern Colo. had some of the flat lands, sand hills and bluffs we had seen before. We stopped and took our final "offical picture" at Bushnell. The destination that day was McCook Nebraska and on the way there we passed two watertowers I had helped build in 1979 or 1980. They were in Wray, CO and Culbertson, NE.
In McCook at the carwash I noticed a 4 week old rear tire was showing the steel belt in one place. NOT good, we were 250 miles from home.
To make this already long story shorter fast forward until Sunday morning. The way to get from McCook NE to the final stop for the chapter, Rulo (which we had done Friday) is down to Kansas and east on Highway US 36. We hooked up with some friends we had ridden with off and on for the last two days. Craig and Donna Chesnut, Greg and Suzy Joy, Dean Brehn and Plummer brothers Kent and Keith. My tire looked pretty bad after a hundred miles, at a gas stop we put our gear that was strapped on the back of our softail on Greg and Suzie's Ultra, (a Harley Ultra is the ultimate touring bike and room to hold LOTS of STUFF), Carla climbed on the back of Keith's Ultra and we were off again. At the next 100 mile stop we all decided my tire was just about toast. One of my Independent Motorcycle Repair Shops was 30 miles up the road. I rode the bike to Cowboy's Custom Cycles and left it with Cowboy (who just happen to be there) to put a tire on. I jumped on the back of Kent's Ultra and off we rode to Marysville. Carla and I got off and the good Samaritans went on their way to finish the Frontier H.O.G. Charter, 5 Corners and a Curve Ride.
Tomorrow I am flying to South Carolina to drive home a 1994 Thunderbird that I bought off of eBay for a 49 Ford Hot Rod build.... more on that soon
http://easyrods.com/
Besides riding 1000 miles and riding in 6 states and riding from one corner of Nebraska to the other (the long way) in 18 hours Carla and I managed to have a VERY GOOD time. We rode with the Frontier, Harley Owners Group Chapter out of Lincoln. The object was to ride to the 5 Corners of Nebraska and the curve (Missouri River in the Northeast) in three days. Carla and I started off by going through Rulo NE (the Southeast) first. That was the last scheduled stop for the HOG Chapter but they were leaving from Lincoln. We crossed the Missouri river at Rulo and headed up I-29 through Missouri and Iowa. We hit the scheduled stop at Newcastle NE and on the way west we rode the extra 20 miles up to Yankton SD for gas. It was a long way across the state and by the time we reached our motel to stay Friday night in Chadron we had racked up 725 miles and (Kansas, Neb.,Mo., Iowa and SD) 5 states. It was only 6 o'clock so my wild intellect said we only needed 275 more miles for a 1000 miles in 24 hours which in the motorcycle world is something special and you get an "IRON BUTT" label after your name. We can head west, pickup our third stop in Harrison, (the Chapters second stop) keep on going west for another 9 miles and pickup another state. OK, let's do it! Although we were planning on going west to makeup the extra miles we needed, by the time we got into Wyoming the combination of the sun going down and the rise in altitude, the temperatures were dropping fast. Since the cold weather gear we had used to start with in the morning was back in Chadron in the Western Motel, we headed back. After redressing for the, by then COLD weather, we headed east. It just so happened that we needed 152 miles now for the 1000 mile day. It just so happened that on our way into Chadron on Highway 20 we had taken a rest break right by a sign that said 76 miles to Chadron. My math skills were still sharp enough to know, out there and back would give us 1000 miles. It was cold, it was getting late and we knew it would be around midnight when we got back. Rather than give up and go to bed we decided to go for it. It was cold, it was dark, it was cold and we had seen the highway patrol east of town this afternoon and he just had another one pulled over 10 miles east of town now. To make this thing work we were going to have to speed a little and we would have to come back by this guy again unless he decided to go home before 12. The 76 miles out were cold and long but after we turned around and headed back with only 76 miles to go it was like down hill. That time of the night in western Nebraska there are no cars on the highway. The cop must have gone home. We didn't see anyone.
Although we figured on sleeping in Saturday morning, we didn't. After the first bike started up we were ready to get ready. There were 80 riders on 56 bikes split up in two motels in Chadron. Saturday night in McCook we were all in the Cheif Motel. As everyone was going west to Harrison and their second stop and we had taken care of it last night we headed south to Scottsbluff National Monument.
After we hit the two stops in Southwest Nebraska we headed south on 385 though eastern Colorado. The scenery had varied a lot along the way and eastern Colo. had some of the flat lands, sand hills and bluffs we had seen before. We stopped and took our final "offical picture" at Bushnell. The destination that day was McCook Nebraska and on the way there we passed two watertowers I had helped build in 1979 or 1980. They were in Wray, CO and Culbertson, NE.
In McCook at the carwash I noticed a 4 week old rear tire was showing the steel belt in one place. NOT good, we were 250 miles from home.
To make this already long story shorter fast forward until Sunday morning. The way to get from McCook NE to the final stop for the chapter, Rulo (which we had done Friday) is down to Kansas and east on Highway US 36. We hooked up with some friends we had ridden with off and on for the last two days. Craig and Donna Chesnut, Greg and Suzy Joy, Dean Brehn and Plummer brothers Kent and Keith. My tire looked pretty bad after a hundred miles, at a gas stop we put our gear that was strapped on the back of our softail on Greg and Suzie's Ultra, (a Harley Ultra is the ultimate touring bike and room to hold LOTS of STUFF), Carla climbed on the back of Keith's Ultra and we were off again. At the next 100 mile stop we all decided my tire was just about toast. One of my Independent Motorcycle Repair Shops was 30 miles up the road. I rode the bike to Cowboy's Custom Cycles and left it with Cowboy (who just happen to be there) to put a tire on. I jumped on the back of Kent's Ultra and off we rode to Marysville. Carla and I got off and the good Samaritans went on their way to finish the Frontier H.O.G. Charter, 5 Corners and a Curve Ride.
Tomorrow I am flying to South Carolina to drive home a 1994 Thunderbird that I bought off of eBay for a 49 Ford Hot Rod build.... more on that soon
http://easyrods.com/
