Sturgis Day 7, 8/3/09

After breakfast, John and I stopped at the car wash in Belle Fourche and cleaned up the bikes. From there we went out 34 and stopped at Devils Tower. I got the required pictures.

After Devils Tower, we went to Moorcroft, then down 16 to Newcastle. In Newcastle we stopped a a little hole in the wall bar, Perkins Tavern, and had lunch. We spent a little time walking through an antique store too. From Newcastle we took 85 to Spearfish then up to Belle Fourche. A nice 210 mile day.

Sturgis Day 6, 8/2/09

Started out by going for breakfast at the Belle Inn with Garth, John and Larrie. After breakfast I stopped off at the laundromat to wash my clothes. Larrie, Julie, Scott, Sarah and Garth took a loop from Belle Fourche to Newcastle, then Custer, up 385 to camp. John and I picked up Terresah at Rapid City, then we took some new back roads to Keystone, Hill City, Nemo and back to Rapid City. We stopped at Sanfords for dinner. Terresah took most of the pictures that day. I have only one. Lake Pactola reservoir, Me on the left, John on the right.


Same place in 2007, water has come up a bit.

Sturgis Day 5, 8/1/09

Garth, John and I met Gabi at the VFW in Sturgis for breakfast. From there we took Vanocker Canyon to Johnson Siding, 385, Sheridan Lake Rd, to 44 into Rapid City. We stopped at Gabi's for Pizza. Then back to camp.
The only picture from that day, at the VFW.

Sturgis Day 4, 7/31/09

Another 43 degree morning! Garth, John and I had breakfast at the Belle Inn, then back to camp to plan a ride. We did Rapid City, Hill City, Lead, and Spearfish Canyon. We stopped at Subway for diner and Walmart for supplies. Garth lost his helmet on the way to Belle Fourche from BC and picked up a new one at Walmart. I got some lounge pants and a sweatshirt to sleep in at Pamida.
The run up Spearfish Canyon was great. We followed a U.S. Forrest Service truck up the canyon at well over the 35MPH posted speed. I'm glad we could get that run in. Every time we rode the canyon after that, we'd get stuck behind riders that had never seen a curve before and they'd slow to 10 MPH under the posted :(

Garth at his tent..


Downtown Hill City...


Larry, Julie, Scott and Sarah arrived at the campground and got all set up while we were out riding.

Sturgis Day 3, 7/30/09 - No Lyle

Woke up to a 43 degree morning! My sleeping bag was a little light for that weather. It stayed cool all morning. We didn't get much riding in that day. We did get to downtown Sturgis and picked up the usual T-shirts and patches. We ended up back at the campground and waited for Garth to arrive.
Wyatt's Hideaway... before the start of the rally.

While we waited, John took a nap in his chair with a new found friend.

Once Garth got there, he told us that Lyle wouldn't be making the trip this year. Lyle had just been diagnosed with Lyme disease.

Sturgis Day 2, 7/29/09

We woke up to rain.... and not a light rain....


We didn't leave the Warrior Inn untill 1130. We stopped for gas at the Cowboy Corner in Interior, SD. We rode in an off and on rain and a strong quartering head wind all the way to Rapid City, SD.


That's a view of the Badlands, across the street from the gas station.
About the time we got to Sturgis we got a very heavy rain and the temp dropped fast. When we got to Wyatt's Hideaway in Belle Fourche, it had quit raining. We managed to put our tents up and get unpacked in dry weather..... Then it rained... and got COLD.

Sturgis Day 1, 07/28/09

I'm on the road again for my 11th Sturgis Rally! I left the driveway at 0716 with 1204 miles on my '09 ZX-14.

I had to hustle to meet John at the Big Steer Truck Stop by 0800.
We cut across Minnesota, and while we were on Hwy 30, we stopped in Currie, MN to see the End of the Line railroad museum. They have a nice collection of local railroad memorabilia and rolling stock. They were busy painting and cleaning when we stopped in.

After the museum, we stopped at the Subway in Pipestone, MN for lunch. We ended up in Winner, SD for the night.

July 09, Prep for Sturgis

In July I was busy getting the ZX-14 ready for the 11th annual trip to Sturgis. I changed a few things on the ZX to make it a little easier to ride the 600+ miles a day we'll do on the trip out and back. I installed a Kawasaki center stand kit. A set of Genmar bar risers. I bought a nearly new seat from a C-14, Kawasaki's touring version of the ZX-14. I found the seat for sale on a C-14 forum. It slips right into place after swapping out 2 bits of hardware from my ZX-14 seat. I also installed a Zero Gravity Sport-Touring windshield, a Throttlemeister throttle lock, and wired up a 12 volt outlet to power XM radio.
At 750 miles I did the first oil change. At just 1200 miles I swapped out the stock tires for a set of Michelin Pilot Road 2 tires. The tires have a 2 compound tread. Firmer, longer wearing tread in the center of the tire, and a softer, stickier tread compound on the sides. The original tires had already formed a flat spot in the center. I'd read on forums that people had been getting only 2-3000 miles out of a set of factory tires. I plan to put nearly 3000 on this trip.

Cyclehill Tire Changer 8-23-09

After I got back from SFO, I looked at the tires on my FJR and decided they should be replaced. I thought that if some shop could train a high school aged kid to change my tires, then I should be able to do it too. I found a tire changer that I thought would suit my needs. I talked to John and we decided to go halfs on it. I ordered a complete set up and it arrived 3 days later.

The way I figure it, if I change 3 sets of tires on my bikes then I've paid for my half of the changer. The last time I took off the wheels and brought them in to have tires mounted on them, it was close to $90.00 for the pair. Plus, I can save even more money by buying tires off the internet, rather than a shop. I can save an additional $20.00 to $50.00 on EACH tire! I bought a set of Dunlop Roadsmarts for the FJR from swmototires.com, they them shipped for free, total price $270.90 and delivered in 3 days too!

SFO Day 6, Home 5-4-09

We made pretty good time getting the rest of the way home. I took only one picture.



Ending mileage = 23031
Starting mileage = 21285
Total miles for the trip = 1746

Days with rain = 5

Days of fun = All!

John and I agreed that we'd both go back to Arkansas again next year for SFO!

SFO Day 5, Headed Home 5-3-09

Sunday, time to pack up and start going towards home. We took the long way home. I had heard about a place in Kansas that has the second largest electric coal shovel ever built on display. The shovel is named Big Brutus. It seemed like a place I'd want to see.
We traveled west into Oklahoma, then north towards Kansas. In Oklahoma we went through the small town of Picher. There were HUGE sand piles on each side of the road. It looked like a ghost town. There was a billboard on the side of the road that looked like it was something an Elementary school art class did. It said something about lead, and showed hands being washed. After I got home I Googled the town name and found out they have a huge lead problem. We continued north into Kansas.
It seemed to take forever to get to West Mineral, home of Big Brutus. I paid the small museum admission fee and looked around. HOLY CRAP!!! it's HUGE!!! the pictures don't really show it. Big Brutus is a Bucyrus-Erie model 1850B electric shovel. It's 160 feet tall and weighs 11 million pounds! It's the second largest electric shovel in the world.

To really get and Idea how big it is.... the people you see in the photo below are average sized adults. I zoomed in to get that picture.

Click on the pictures to see them full size!



You can walk through Big Brutus. They have it set up as a self guided tour. They give you a sheet of paper with numbers and info on it. It corresponds to numbered features inside and around the shovel. All the electric motors had been removed from inside, but the pictures are still cool.




I walked into the operators cab. The bucket is 90 cubic yards! A heaped bucket full of coal would weigh 150 tons. enough to fill 3 rail cars.


After we left Big Brutus, we went through Kansas City and up I-35. We stopped for the night at the Family Budget Inn Motel in Bethany, MO.

SFO Day 4, 5-2-09

Today's a rainy day. John and I decided to take a ride on the shuttle bus and check out the town. We stopped at the Eureka Springs & North Arkansas Railway (ES&NA RR). They have a collection of old railroad equipment and steam locomotives. We walked around the yard for a while and took pictures. We watched them use a turntable to turn a diesel/electric switcher engine around.




We decided to take a ride on their train. It travels only a short distance down the tracks. At the end of the line they stop the train. It waits there for a bit, while passengers in the dinning car eat. We took the no food ride. We had a real nice Conductor in the car we rode in. He was full of facts and interesting information. At the end of the line we got to put a few coins on the rails and watch as the train drove over them a squished them. Pretty neat. Here's John talking to the Conductor after the ride.


John even got to ride up in the cab while they ran the train up the tracks to switch out a few cars!


After the train ride we got back on the shuttle bus and went downtown. We walked around town for a bit and stopped in a small bar/restaurant and had chips and guacamole. There was a group of 5 girlfriends in the bar. I think they had been there a while. They were pretty funny! From there we walked back to the hotel.



That night was the night of the Banquet. Before dinner they had a group picture of FJR's in the parking lot.


The food was ok, maybe a little to fancy for my tastes, but good. Before dinner they handed out door prizes. Everybody got something. I got a few nice micro-fiber towels and a tool for adjusting the neck bearings.

SFO Day 3, 5-1-09

On this day we went for a group ride through rural Arkansas. It was John and I, Mike and his friend Lawrence, both from Kansas, and another guy, sorry I can't remember his name. We left Eureka Springs and headed south. We took rural roads through towns like Forum, Witter, Red Star. Through the Ozark National Forrest. I think it was the town of Ozone where there were houses with Rebel flags in the windows as curtains. There were new, big, brick houses right next to houses that were built in the 30's that probably hadn't been painted in 30 years... It was interesting! We continued south and stopped at a gas station outside of Clarksville.


After a quick stop for a pop, we continued east and north. Up through Dillen, Nail, Swain. We stopped for lunch at a little cafe in the town of Deere.


In the cafe was a nice old gentleman that asked us about our bikes and where we were from. He told us a story of how during WWII he told himself that if he ever got home to Newton County, he would never leave again. He said he kept his word. I find it hard to believe that he wouldn't have left the county in over 60+ years...

After lunch we headed back up to Eureka Springs. There sure is a lot of beautiful scenery in Arkansas. Both John and I said that we'd like to come back down here and ride some more.


I wish I had taken more pictures that day.

SFO Day 2, 4-30-09

Today, we left Marshall and continued south on 65. We stopped in downtown Branson at a place called Clockers Cafe. After riding in the wet all morning it was nice to get out of the rain for a while.



After lunch we made it the rest of the way to Eureka Springs. We found the Best Western and checked in. It was still raining.




The rain let up around dinner time, and we went out for dinner to Sparky's Ultra Lounge. A very interesting place. John and I sat in the covered outdoor section. I had the spicy chicken enchiladas...mmmmm good

SFO Day 1, 4-29-09

I went out the door at 0630 to start my trip to SFO-2009, Southern Fjr Owners rally - 2009. My starting mileage was 21285. I drove across Dakota County and met up with John about an hour later. We headed down I-35 all the way down to MO.




We got ino the parking lot of the Marshall Lodge in Marshall, MO. and it started to rain. It would continue to rain for almost the entire trip.

Pre Trip Prep

Today, I helped John put a set of Koubalinks on his FJR to lower it. They went on in just a few minutes with 2 wrenches and some creative hanging of the bike from the garage rafters. We also went to Bob's cycle supply. I purchased a set of Tourmaster Defender raingear.

It's Here...

Today, 04-22-2009, I brought in the Goldwing

I picked up my new toy


Zero Miles!

I Did It...

On Wednesday 4-15-2009, I drove the Goldwing out to Cities Edge Kawasaki, and met with Clark and Jesse. I was made a good offer on a new ZX-14, with my 'wing and 250 ninja in trade. I did it. I drove the 250 ninja out there on Friday and dropped it off. I also picked up oil and a filter for the new bike. After work on Monday, I'll pick up the new bike. It should look just like this.

I also have to start getting ready to go to the Southern FJR Owners rally in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Im going to meet up with John next weekend to talk about the route we'll take.

I got my taxes back. So far I have paid off the new dual fuel gas/electric stove we bought and paid off my car!!! I think next up will be tires and a Cyclehill tire changer and a mojo bar. John and I will go half/half on the changer.

This afternoon I took some time and removed the Bushtec hitch, wiring harness, X-M radio mount and wiring, and and a few other goodies the dealer didn't mind me keeping. I'll clean all the parts up and post them for sale on the wall at Dr. Mudspringers.

First Nice Weekend

I went for a good ride today. I went with "Gramps" from the FJRforum.com web site. We went out 10, down O, 35, up A, 10, Plum City, U, UU, SS, D, N, Pepin, home. About a 125 miles. Most of the roads were good, but D was covered in sand on all the hills and corners. I only have a few weeks until John and I head out for Arkansas and the 2009-SFO. I still have a few things to do before we go.

First Post of 2009

Today is 03-17-09. I've had the bikes out for 3 days now. I've ridden the FJR to work the last 2 days. I noted the milage on the 3 road bikes. It is... 919 on the 08 Ninja 250, 21071 on the 06 FJR, and 22429 on the '03 Goldwing. My goal this year is to sell or trade in the Wing, sell the 250 Ninja and buy an '09 ZX-14. I stopped at Cities Edge Kawasaki and spoke to the manager. He offered me a deal of my Wing and $2000.00 for a ZX-14. That was 2 months ago. I'd like to ride there and see if I could do maybe just a little bit better.
I went to the Cycleworld International Motorcycle show in Feb with John. He managed to find a H-D dealer that was interested in talking bikes with him. I hung around the Kawasaki display and all the sales people did was talk to each other. NO ONE came over and talked to me. There were sales people from many of the local dealerships, yet they didn't seem to be too interested in talking or selling. Sad really.