| Author | Message | ||
     Sleez |
I have finally started to gather all my data and pics. WOW what a ride. This was my first Homecoming, I had planned on attending the 25th but got laid off 2 weeks prior, and couldn't afford to spend my savings. Sorry I missed it!!! The next year I was at a new job and didn't have the vacation. Gloriann (ladysleez) and I have been planning this trip for months, I had 2 weeks vacation and she was taking time off without pay so we could do this. We got the large XP trunk bag, with the lights wired to a brake light modulator to make our Uly more visible!! I mounted three tubes on the bike, two with gas bottles and one with a compressor. Had a bunch of tools and wire connectors and tire plugs just in case. (didn't need most of it, thankfully!) We bought the Scala Rider G4 powerset for communications, and have our iPod mounted on the handlebars with an FM transmitter to play through our comm devices!! Over 1400 songs, we're good to go! I also wore my camel back with cool water to stay hydrated the whole way, it was a bit annoying, but I was glad we had it!!! The pocket on the back of it came in handy for Gloriann to stash little things. She did a stellar job cleaning our faceshields at every stop, and ensuring I drank water. She also logged every stops mileage and time so I could crunch all the numbers when we return home. Our plan was to leave Willits, CA on Sunday June 13th taking 4 days to reach East Troy, WI via I80. Our only planned side trip for the way out was Ulysses, NE. We hoped to get a bunch of Ulys to show up at the same time. (didn't quite work out that way!) We also planned on hitting a Corvette museum in Effingham, IL on our way back to California. We connected with Bob (carbonfibrebob) and Diane from Denver, CO in Cheyenne, they also had Jody (J2blue) with them. They on their CF Uly and Jody on his red CR. I'll post a separate post for each day, and post each day's pics chronologically, some with captions, some not. Gloriann took most of the pics from the back seat, on the move! Disclaimer; All miles are from the stock ODO, not calibrated. YMMV!!! lol All times given are Pacific time. DAY 1 Willits, CA (9:04a) to Elko, NV (7:11p) 526 miles, highest avg speed between gas stops; 68.49 MPH, highest mileage for a tank; 42.834 MPG, longest run on a tank 171.1 miles. The seat on the Uly feels like a big soft couch cushion!!! Pretty uneventful. There is weather on the far horizon, but the radar looks like we will be a day behind it all the way to Wisconsin, I have so much faith, I am not even bringing rain gear!!!                     As you can see, we were catching the weather!! (Message edited by sleez on June 26, 2010) | ||
| Sleez |
I call this a BUELL-grimage, because as we were preparing for the trip, I kept imagining as we rode across the country and went through different population centers, we would gain Buell riders. I envisioned every night we would be gaining bikes exponentially, culminating into the final stretch into Alpine Valley with many Buells thundering along. (wasn't the case at all) We started to catch the weather that was moving east across the country the night before, by the time we were up and loaded on the bike the next morning, it was clear and blue as could be. This became the norm, every night almost catching the weather, then in the morning it had moved on it's way!! DAY 2 Elko, NV (7:55a) to Cheyenne, WY (7:10p) 647 miles, highest avg speed between gas stops; 76.59 MPH, highest mileage for a tank; 47.273 MPG, longest run on a tank; 171.6 miles. The seat on the Uly feels like a mid-sized firm lawnchair cushion!!! Fairly uneventful. We were going to run out of gas east of Bonneville Speedway, I inadvertently misread a "next services" sign, so we had to stop at a rest area to put in the half gallon of gas from the bottles stored in the tubes, we then continued on the 14 miles to Delle, UT for a full refill. In hindsight, we could have made it without using the gas bottles. The only mechanical problem we had was we lost the aux lights somewhere between Wamsutter, WY and Rawlins, WY. We stopped for tacos in Rawlins, and while Gloriann was grabbing chow, I repaired the broken ground to the relay I installed. All my fault, I had over crimped the ring terminal and it had broken, thankfully I had brought my crimpers and extra terminals. Fixed it by the time our tacos were ready, aux lights good to go!!            Gloriann thinks this looks like a rocket car flying across the salt, kinda does!  Funky Desert Sculpture http://www.utah.com/amusement/metaphor_tree.htm        Big plant of some sort, not sure what goes on here? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennecott_Smokestack  B-A smokestack! "The Kennecott Smokestack is the tallest free-standing structure west of the Mississippi River, the fourth tallest smokestack in the world and the thirty-third tallest free-standing structure on earth."                       These thing are positively HUGE!! Saw a few semis pulling single blades down the freeway, amazingly big things!  This pic reminds me of "War of the Worlds", beware the Fans from space!!!!!     We like tunnels, can you tell?       | ||
| Sleez |
We stopped for the night in Cheyenne, had dinner at the hotel, and a couple drinks! Called Bob to confirm a meeting time in the a.m., we agreed to meet in the hotel parking lot between 8:00 and 8:30. We went downstairs about 8:15 and there they were!!! Yeah, more Buells!!! Not quite the "BUELL-grimage" I was hoping for, but it's a start. We gassed up and headed across the street for some cheap easy breakfast at Burger King, we chatted a bit to get to know each other. Bob and Diane from Denver and Jody from near there. This is shaping up to be a fun couple more days to Wisconsin! As Gloriann and I had been traveling East, we have seen a number of Nascar haulers heading West to Sonoma. Yes I am a Nascar fan, not a freaky fan, just a fan. It was cool seeing the haulers one by one heading to their next destination. While we were talking with Bob, Diane and Jody, there was a guy who had ridden in on a Harley sitting at an adjacent table, wearing a Nascar long sleeve shirt. While I was throwing our table trash away, he asked how our ride was, and which way we were going. We told him "East from Northern California", he stated he was traveling from Detroit to Sonoma. Of course I was intrigued since the Cup Series had just finished Michigan and were heading to Infineon, so I asked if he was associated with Nascar. He says, "Yes, I am the Engine Inspection Supervisor for Nascar Sprint Cup. Kenny Lawson." Pretty cool for me. Shook his hand and talked a short while about different routes into Sonoma. As we were finishing up, another guy walks over, says he heard we were from California, so we chatted for a minute. When I said we were from Willits, he said, "My nephew owns a house in Willits." I asked who that was, and he replied, "Henry High." "No way", I say, "I went to school with him and Mike." This guy was on his way home to Missouri and we had a chance meeting in Cheyenne, wow, what a small world. DAY 3 Cheyenne, WY (7:56a) to Omaha, NE (7:07p) 494 miles, Highest avg speed between gas stops; 76.1 MPH, highest mileage for a tank; 46.919 MPG, longest run on a tank; 146.4 miles. The seat on the Uly feels like a small washcloth on a wooden bench. Somewhat eventful today, during a gas stop, we noticed Jody's rear tire was showing cords about half way around, luckily there was a Yamaha shop just up the road in Kearney. He called and they said they were booked, he explained the situation and they agreed to get it right in, very cool. We had a two hour lay-over at the Kearney Yamaha dealer, chatting, stretching and getting to know each other a bit better, turned out to be a cool thing, even though we would want those two hours back later!!! We were planning on meeting a couple more Ulys in Ulysses, NE, this was something I think I was more into than anyone else, thanks for humoring me everyone. We only ended up with 4 Ulys there, oh well, I was hoping for 10 or more!! It was really cool meeting Jim (Buellhusker) and Dick (Babalugatz) there. Jody waving while performing a complicated dance step! Bob and Diane getting ready to mount. (the bike!!)   That seat was very comfy a couple days ago!    Jody waiting "patiently" for the couples to get ready at a gas stop.    The swamped gas station, where we decide to gas up, didn't work, had to move on to the next station down the road.  Hanging out, waiting for Jody to locate a rear tire. look closely, you can see the worn out tire cords.    A nice spot for a signature.      Jody's new tire!!!  Thank you Kearney Yamaha    Guess where we're at?  We made it!!!       Kind of appropriate that the pavement ends right at the Ulysses sign.   Thanks Leo.          Angels holding up well after 1600 miles.  Jim escorting us out of Ulysses.   Cool shadow.  Insert your own caption here...thanks BP!     | ||
| F_skinner |
Great pics.... Thanks for taking us along for the ride. Great to meet you at Homecoming... Frank | ||
| Sleez |
hi frank, thank you. we have 7 more entries of pics and stuff. great meeting you as well, wish we would have talked more, sorry, i was a bit overwhelmed with all the buelligans. hope to see you again and ride together. | ||
| Court |
Incredible . . . what a ride and what a great group! It was great to meet you guys . . that's a serious ride! | ||
| Sleez |
thanks Court, great to finally meet you in person and shake your hand sir! thanks for signing my copy of 25 Years of Buell!! | ||
| Sleez |
After meeting up in Ulysses, we took Jim and Dick's advice and bypassed Lincoln and took a back way into Omaha, therefore saving some pain in trying to get out of Lincoln mired in the morning traffic. Thanks guys. We found a hotel in Omaha and grabbed some dinner and a brew or two, then walked back to the hotel. if I remember right, Jody decided to stay at the hotel and grab a swim. We met up in the morning for breakfast and hit the road after gassing up. I do want to say, the Mid-Western Tar Snake is a vicious creature, the Western Tar Snake that I am familiar with is a very docile creature in comparison. The big nest that we accidently woke up as we rolled into Alpine Valley about knocked my tires out from under me!! We rolled up to the resort parking lot, there were tons of Buells and their riders all gathered around, as if they heard us coming or something! As we were parking, they all started loading up and left...WTF did I say??? Oh yeah, dinner at Roma's, no, can't do it, need to stretch, drink, swim...not in that order of course!! DAY 4 Omaha, NE (6:54a) to East Troy, WI (4:11p) 472 miles, highest avg speed; 68.16 MPH, highest mileage; 46.143 MPG, longest run; 141.8 miles. The seat on the Uly feels like very thin paint on a steel girder!! No surprises today, all went well. Did pass a Buell Uly I believe, going the "wrong" way a few hours from Wisconsin. We tried waving him in the right direction, but to no avail. Out our hotel window, the night before was loaded with lightning bugs, or were they Thunderbolt bugs?  Trying to find gas before hitting the last leg of the trip to Homecoming   Getting their lean on!! lol (those long stretches of slab are making me goofy)  "What are those crazy Californians taking pictures of now?"  The Mighty Mississippi     Thanks Jody!  Hello Wisconsin!!!  | ||
| J2blue |
Awesome chronicle! Y'all did a great job, what a team. I wish I had a camera mounted so we could take some pictures of you and Gloriann riding, especially the slick dance moves and exotic massage at 80mph! I hear you about the seat wearing thin after a few days, mine wore thin much quicker. | ||
| Ladysleez |
I seemed to have fared better than he did, it must be all that junk in the trunk. I wish someone had been able to take some more pictures of us, there was one picture of me on our camera from the whole trip. Well ok, two if you count the reflection in the back of his helmet. | ||
| J2blue |
Is it ok if I post some of these pictures on Facebook? | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
THANKS!!! for posting all those pics.... makes me we wanna go for a ride. | ||
| Sleez |
Jody, no problem, they are all on mine too. Wolfridgerider, you are welcome! | ||
| Sleez |
more to come, soon, been recovering from independence fever!! | ||
| Whatever |
I am glad Jody had someone to ride with... I thought he was a nut ball riding a CR from Colorado... his camping setup convinced me... definitely a screw loose there...   |
