Trip to Kentucky - Summer 2001

Day 1

I decided to visit my daughter and her family in Kentucky and get there by motorcycle. I procured an R1100S in January and had worn out the OEM tires getting to know the machine and learning how to handle it. It was mid July and I had 2 weeks off work. I donned my customary riding gear of armored jacket and leather pants - armored of course, and with packed saddlebags bags headed out at about 0600 on a Saturday morning.

I had no particular agenda other than to just enjoy the trip and not get creamed doing it. I had never done such a long ride on a bike and wondered how I was going to hold up. Liking the ride wasn't an issue - it was my almost aged 55 body - would that tolerate it?

I headed over I90 to Spokane. It was cool and the bike was running well. I didn't notice the weight of the luggage or stuffed tank-bag and just motored along thinking life was not shit after all!

The R1100S has a fairly small tank so one has to stop every 170 miles or so to fuel up. I could go farther but the need gas idiot light comes on 60 miles before it really needs to and I found it aggravating - so just stop and add gas to make it go away. This turns out to be a good thing. I soon learn that the stock seat, that gave me no problems on cooler training rides in the spring, was now decidedly uncomfortable - and I had no idea why. So, I stop for gas every hour or so, and stop for a butt break every other hour or so. As long as I don't dawdle at either stop I can cover territory. It seems I like to cover territory. I like new vistas and I really like the feeling of hour after hour being on the bike. I just don't want to stop.

I get gas in Couer D'Alene and by the time I enter Montana I'm getting very hot. I'm unaccustomed to the heat - a handicap acquired from living in the great Northwet - and I stop a lot to drink water, and then stop to pee it out. I have my jacket fully vented and try soaking my T-shirt for evaporative cooling. That works. I stop in Bozeman for the night and call Laurie. I'm not real hungry but down a gallon of Gatorade which makes me sick.

Day 2

I got up early with no real plan in mind but to eat breakfast in Billings. There is a Denny's there that I like. The trip to Billings is fantastic. It is cool, and the scenery is pleasing to me; relaxing actually. There is little in the way of traffic except a guy in a Jeep Wrangler with Colorado tags who must want company as he hangs with me all the way to Billings. I kinda wish he would move on or back off but no gonna happen. Breakfast is as I wanted it to be and I review my map to decide where to go next. Before I left I chatted with a guy from my home town who was headed to Kentucky a couple of weeks before me. He was thinking of taking route 212 through Broadus, MT. Since I've driven the freeway to Rapid City a few times, I decided to investigate the unknown and do Route 212 as well. Broadus has a cool web site so I wondered if the town was as cool as depicted.

After breakfast and fuel I head for the Custer Battlefield which is located where route 212 departs the freeway. I thought about visiting but the crowds of tour busses put me off. I think battlefields are best experienced alone, so I press on. The road is a great bike road with nice sweepers, gentle hills, and varied scenery. I was a bit concerned about fuel and took it easy to conserve finally getting a full load in Ashland. I get back into dirt riding technique as the whole road is torn up for a rebuild but being a Sunday there are no workers so I have route selection completely up to me.

There is a section of this road that goes through the Custer National Forest which I find breathtaking and just pull over to the shoulder to take it all in. I could not be happier. The pressure of work has gone and I have this place all to myself - the road is deserted. It is getting very hot however and I drank all my water. By the time I get to Broadus I'm not particularly into a thorough investigation but I do replenish my fuel and water and wave to the only other biker I see - he's headed the other way.

Outside of town I read a roadside marker explaining about this being Powder River country and decide this would be a bad place to have a fight with Indians. The landscape is deceptive. It appears flat but it isn't. Lots of rolling hills and little depressions all over where an army could hide its strength. No wonder Custer had no idea about the strength of his opponents.

By Alzada it is very hot and I pull over at a roadside stop and try a hot dog and some root beer. I buy some water and gas and head for Rapid City. When I get near there I notice the summer heat has contrived some thunderstorm activity for me. It is flat out hot and muggy as I take a butt break near Spearfish. I get clobbered by hail as I head for Sturgis. This makes incredible noise on my helmet and it hurts my hands but I motor into town as I think stopping on the freeway shoulder would be a bad thing. I hide under the overhang at a gas station and try to imagine this town full of Harleys. There are some T-shirt shops selling rally memorabilia but I'm not interested.

Once the rain abates I blast for Rapid City. I've spent a lot of the day dawdling and the heat has kicked my butt, which is extremely uncomfortable. I grab the first Motel 6 I see and flop on the bed till the AC gets my core to a normal state. I then swim in the pool and finally feel good enough to try some food. Rapid City seems to have a lot of buffet places and I figure to try one out that's next to the motel and a big Wal-Mart. The food is...interesting. The people watching is too. It reminds me of feeding time at the feed lot.

I decide the issue with my butt is my underwear. I normally wear jockey shorts but it seems to me the seams are positioned between the saddle and nerves that connect my feet to the brain - it must be why I hurt so badly. Wal-Mart has lots of underwear so I decide to sample a few varieties that don't have a seam. It is raining lightly and I also get a $10 plastic bike cover to keep the rain off my ride, and to keep prying eyes off my bike as well. The ugly gray plastic makes it uninteresting. I sleep soundly.

Day 3

I get up early and leave in the rain. I find the bike likes the flat of South Dakota and cruises at 90+ with no struggle. The weather channel said it will get hot today, over 100 degrees. The thermometer I bought says it is over 80 at 0730. It feels cooler because of the moisture and I may be adapting. My butt like today's underwear and there is less pain - for now. By the time I get to Sioux Falls it is near 100 degrees and I feel it whenever the speed drops below 50. I stop for lunch in Sioux City and it is 105 degrees and very humid. I'm pouring water down my neck and drinking as much as I can force into my stomach but it does not seem to help very much. By St Joseph, MO I'm whipped and call it a day. The weather channel is becoming my whole focus. It predicts more intense heat above 100 degrees for the region accompanied by thunder storms - the ones with the dark red parts that seem bigger than Connecticut.

Day 4

I awaken to thunder and lightening and a check of the Weather Channel shows one of these monsters headed my way but on a general West to East track. I get out of there and head for St Louis. The road is dry. The lightening is spectacular and so it the flow of traffic. Everybody wants to get to work before the rain hits - we haul ass - and I'm grateful for that. The stamen gets real close and I figure I'm gonna get real wet soon but I reach the bypass around Kansas City and it seems I'm headed away from it. That lasts only a short while as the road heads South again and directly into the storm that has reached Kansas City. The lightening is awesome and I begin to feel very small. I'm resigned to my fate when the first rain drops hit my shield but then a miracle happens - the freeway for St Louis appears and I head East as fast as I figure I can get away with. The storm appears in my rearview and I consider myself lucky. Needing gas and food I pull into Odessa and fuel up. There is a McDonalds across the street and I have a big breakfast. This is one efficient operation - uncharacteristic of McDonalds - and I have a second cup of coffee. By the time I leave the sky is black and the wind has picked up. That damned storm has caught up to me.


By the time I get to St Louis I'm drenched in sweat. I'd considered visiting the arch but take advantage of the light traffic to get across the river instead. Near Belleville. IL I encounter another storm and hide out in a rest area to dry off and unwind. The storm cools things off a bit and I continue for Paducah. I made good time and press for Clarksville, TN. It gets hotter and hotter and I simply have to take a break. The gas station I pull into must have a corpse in the dumpster as it stinks the stink of carrion. I have to get away from there and ride down the freeway a few miles and pull of on an exit ramp. I dismount and rest in the shade of my bike. I eventually make it to my daughter's house by 1430 and real I'm glad they have AC.
Day 5 and 6 and 7


I had a great time with Kat and her family and get to meet some of the men that Tony works with. One of them has a Harley Springer and he is featured in Easy Rider Magazine. Tony and I look all over for the issue but it is sold out. Little Alec, by grandson, is a cool little guy and challenges me to do the Grandfather thing. I have a lot to learn about that. I get to go 4 wheeling with Alec and Tony and in general have fun doing guy things. In no time I have to leave for home and I'm conflicted about wanting to get back into the ride and wanting to stay another day.

Day 8

I depart in the morning - I hate farewells - and motor onto the freeway as fast as I can. I grab some food in Paducah and then head for Chicago. I'm weary of freeways so decided to take Illinois 51 to Rockford. Though it is oppressively hot and humid, I do enjoy the little towns and the old guys I meet. I like to take butt breaks in the town centers where there seems to be a park. The old timers hang out there and all want to know about my Harley, to tell me tales of riding Harleys or Indians when they were young. I don't tell them it is a BMW.

I decide to make for Madison, WI and again pull in as a big storm pounds the place. The Weather Channel indicates one storm after another is lined up across Montana, the Dakotas, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Oh well, better rest up. On another channel I watch a local interest story about deer kill in Wisconsin. There are so many of these critters that get killed by cars and trucks that their carcasses have become a big issue - hence the story. It seems the road workers would simply move a dead deer into the grass by the side of the roadway and let the coyote eat them. They had to quit doing that however because the big lawn mowers would get all jammed up with the bones and hide and the grass cutter guys were getting pissed. The state resolved the problem by requiring the road guys to load the dead deer into big plastic trash barrels and haul them to a land fill. So I'm watching footage of two burley guys trying to load a stiff deer carcass into one as the narrator describes the scene. Funniest thing I've seem in months and I almost puke from laughing.

Day 9

The weather is fine as I leave but I know there is a big storm ahead. It gets bright daylight as the sun comes up and then it gets black. I get caught in the downpour and bail for the nearest McDonalds with everybody else. It is 0830 and as dark as midnight and a nasty storm is doing its best to drown the little town I'm in. Once it passes I make for Eau Claire and enjoy cool and sunny weather. I have the road to myself and enjoy the very pretty countryside. I see no deer. It gets progressively cooler and downright cold as I approach Superior, WI. The effect of lake Superior is unexpected and for a while I feel at home.

In Duluth, MN I take in the Riderwarehouse and order a Roadcrafter suit. I figured out that it isn't an underwear thing that causes my butt to hurt but the inability of my leathers to breathe. I end up sitting in a puddle of hot sweat hour after hour and take to changing my drawers like a hiker changes socks. In some rest areas I simply head for a picnic table and drop my pants to get the benefit of evaporative cooling - one motorhome family must have thought I was a pervert as they rounded up the kids and left right away. The Roadcrafter is GoreTex and so breathes and is basically rain proof negating the need for separate rain gear. Hope so anyway.

I was stationed in Duluth in the mid 70s and decide to try and find where I lived and visit the old base. I can't locate our old rental home and the base is now a federal prison. The guy I try to chat with, who is cutting grass at the front gate, says he is a trustee and is forbidden to talk to the public. I move away so I don't get him in trouble and encounter a bunch of religious folk parading to the prison. They are carrying a big banner saying something about repentance and hollering prayer - I flee from there and head for Bemidji.

I encounter rain off and on and as I approach Bemidji catch some CB traffic about a thunderstorm up ahead. I pull in to get some gas an don my rain gear. Like the storm outside Madison it is dark and the wind is picking up. I decide to motor on even though the gas station attendant says there are tornadoes with this storm. In the thrust of hail and wind that picks my bike up in one lane to deposit it in the next I decide I may have made a mistake. Thankfully there is no traffic so I press on and eventually leave the storm behind. It is getting late as I approach Grand Forks where I plan to spend the night. The gas station gal says there is a bad storm ahead. I tell her I can see it. It hits full on as I get to my motel. I learn from the news that several Marines were killed and injured by the tornado in Bemidji as it tore through their summer training encampment.

Day 10

I leave 0500 in a storm. I decide to just blast through it - there really is no option - I have to get to Havre, MT today and home the next. I survive and make it to Devils Lake. The smells are wonderful, and the rain from all these storms has made the fields, and land reserved for migratory waterfowl, seem very lush and vibrant. There are flowers in blossom all over. The temperature is reasonable and I enjoy my ride West. A LEO asks me why I am speeding and I point to the storm on the horizon saying I want to make Minot before it nukes me. He says OK and slow down so I can make it there alive. I'm grateful and proceed at a more sedate pace. The storm just grazes me as I fuel up in Minot and continue West. By Williston I'm into a full on battle with prairie wind but the bike handles it well and I'm making good time.

By Glasgow, MT I'm needing to rest and find a roadside rest area where I sleep for an hour. The wind keeps the temperature reasonable and my crotch is enjoying the evaporation. I begin to remember the time I was stationed in Havre at an AC&W Radar site and wonder where all the people are that I worked with. It is 1630 when I make it to Havre. The only room available is a smoking room and it reeks - I don't sleep well as the result.

Day 11

I leave at 0400 for Shelby, MT where I plan to have breakfast. Once again there is a storm on the horizon coming from the Southwest and seemingly headed for me. The expanse of sky is such that a sight like this that is 100 or more miles away appears to be much closer. I keep moving but outside Shelby I feel some rain drops and stop to put my rain gear on. Of course it does not get any worse and after a while I'm past it. When I pull into a truck stop for some food the waitress wants to know why I'm dressed for rain. I tell her and she laughs at me. "Been a drought here for 5 years she says You sure you saw some rain? The food is good and I call Laurie from the phone that is on the wall next to the booth. Nice thing - make a call while eating breakfast. I leave there and make Browning in short order and then enjoy a wonderful ride to Kalispell. From there I head to Sand Point and on the way meet up with a young Canadian guy on a Kawasaki 500 sport bike. We ride together for a few hours until he decides to stop. Says his butt hurts.

I make it to Beaudry Motorsports outside Spokane and buy some ear plugs. I've tried various types on this trip and have gone without any today but I have now aggravated a bit of Tinnitus I've had for years. Earplugs give me some relief and I quit trying to use my CB's earbud - will seek a solution to that issue later. I call Laurie and tell her I'll be home later tonight and make way for Ritzville, WA.

I rest at Ritzville, and Moses Lake ,and Vantage, and Ellensburg. I'm tired and my butt is killing me - I need to stop frequently. I make my last stop before Cle Elum at a rest area and then make for Snoqualmie Pass. The air feels cool and moist and I feel like I'm home. I get down route 18 and onto route 167 for Puyallup and have my only incident when a person in a SUV pulls into me from the left lane. I appreciate the anti lock brakes as I just reef down on them and slow enough to miss being hit. She's talking on her cell phone and no doubt had no idea I was nearby.

The trip ends in 30 more minutes. I stink and shower it off before falling asleep. 878 miles today.