http://www.udriders.com/law_ride_2010

"NO SHOW JOE 2009 STURGIS TOUR" ARE BELOW!!!! 

GARRICK "BEEF" VALDES ---------- 5,334

DAVE "BIG COUNTRY" GRANT --- 5,136

MYSELF ------------------------------------- 5,029

KENNY "MOTOR 1" WINDSOR ---- 4,634

NO SHOW JOE VADALA -------------- 0

 

Between all of us, it was a total of 15 states. 

For anyone interested, the fuel cost for me was $361.58

(worth every freakin penny).

 

I think Joe might have "one uped" us for going to DC from Virginia about 12 times while we were seeing this great country of ours and having a blast!!!! 

DC was not on our trip, but good for you Joe!!!!

 

Departed my folks house in Stanley, NY with Josh in tow around 0745 with a line of fog in from of us.  We didn't see any sun until Manfield, PA!!!!  Josh rode like a trooper and didn't start to get figgity until York, PA and then we only had a little over an hour until safe and sound back to the Dena.  Josh is laughing his butt off in the picture because I damn near fell on my ass trying to run from the camera mounted on the bike to where he was standing!!!

 

Windsor and I are the only ones back from this grand adventure.  I'll post all the miles when all get back.  As for my final numbers, they are:

 

Today's total: 343.

Total for entire trip: 5,029 miles.

 

Ride safe all.

 

Left Toledo around 0815 hours through Cleveland and said our good byes to Motor 1 who started to head south to the homeland of Waldorf, Maryland.  He made it home safe with an daily mileage of: 506 with a total trip mileage of: 4634.

 

We made it to Niagara Falls for Big Country.  It was his first time to see this Wonder of the World.  East on the New York State Thurway to the Cananadaigua exit.  On the way ran into a favorite of the VMan...Wegmans.  They suck, Joe sucks, and that truck sucks!!  Then it was onto Mom and Dad's for a Thanksgiving feast in August (see photo below).

 

Bikes are in the garage for the night.  Smitty is leaving to visit his grandfather near Albany and Beef and Big Country are heading to parts unknown (after Beef's bike gets a new rear tire from Geneva HD).  Josh and I are hanging out with my folks for a day and then leaving for home Friday morning.

 

Total mileage for today: 442. 

 

What a great day!!!  Going to where Harley Davidson all began was like a group of 7 year olds going into Toys R Us.  Our host were Steve and Jean Burr who I met while they were at the White House.  Picked us up at 0800 hours and we were off.  We took a tour of the main offices where Jean works as the Rider Services Regional Manager.  We also met with Benny Suggs, the General Manager of HOG/Rider Services and with the President and CEO Frank Wandell.  We were treated like VIP's.  Just an awesome time.  We were then surprised before going to the museum that lunch was on Harley.

 

So many photos were taken at the museum that I can't put them on the website.  The one picture of the motorcycle I did put is just called, "Serial Number One".  The very first motorcycle (restored) that was built in 1903.

 

We started out of Milwaukee late afternoon and hit rush hour traffic in Chicago.....not fun.  We made it threw and tried to make it to Cleveland but only got as far as Toledo (again).  Niagara Falls and my parents house tomorrow.

 

Happy Birthday Kara.  I love ya!!!!

 

Total miles for today: 345

 

Not much to write about today.  Departed South Dakota, drove straight through Minnesota and ended the day in the Motherland of Harley Davidson......Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  The best part of the day was, NO RAIN!!!!!

 

Tomorrow is site seeing day as we get to go to the rather new HD Museum.

 

Total miles for the day: 495.

 

Well we were all ready to leave Sturgis bright and early this morning but Mother Nature had other plans for us.  A huge storm hit around 0800 hours just as we wanted to leave so we didn't get out of the area until almost 1030 hours.  This small but powerful storm was a pain in our butts all day.  We named this nemis of nature, Storm Jo-Jo.  We took a detour to Wall Drug and the Badlands to let it get ahead of us, but right behind her was another storm coming up on us.  The Badlands got cut short and we jumped back on 90 East to get some miles under us.  As we approached Storm Jo-Jo, we knew it wasn't going to be pretty so we pulled over in Presho, SD for some gas and a bite to eat to let Jo-Jo move ahead of us some more.  After about a hour and a half, we moved on.  We also had our first wrenching moments when Smitty's toe shifter stripped.  Less than 20 minutes with the right tools and the problem was solved and we were back on our way.

 

Next gas stop was in Alexandria, SD at Joe's (see photos below).  The one photo is the owner of Joe's Restaurant....yes, Joe is his name.  We pressed on into the night until we decided the night driving thing was pushing it.

 

Total miles: 407.

Sioux Fall, SD

 

Well the day started off with a all you can eat pancake breakfast for $5.00.  Boy did we get the best of them with that one!!!!  Rode back into Sturgis to look around for things we missed the day before and for lunch and a beer at the Broken Spoke Saloon.  Then we had to historic Deadwood, SD to look around and then a beautiful ride to Hill City, SD to get a specific HD shirt for my dad.  My dad wears railroad t-shirts and Hill City Harley Davidson has a steam engine on theirs so I thought it was appropriate (plus it was another great 40 plus mile ride through the mountains, like we needed an excuse).  The excitement of the day came when we got back, the TV alerted us that another rain/hail storm was coming our way.  It was moving through very quickly so we jumped on the bikes and rode them up the hill about 500 yards to a car wash and hung out up there for a little under a hour while the storm passed.

 

The one picture of the four guys is our little ceremony to Dave "Big Country" Grant.  He has been the "Map Guy" for most of our time together so Windsor and Smitty found a Road Captain pin to give to Dave.

 

Our trip home has changed in the fact we will not be going to the Great White North.  We all don't have our passports so it was a team decision to stay together and ride in the States.  We leave Stugis behind and start making our way back east towards the families we all miss.

 

Total mileage: 147

 

Today was what we called our down day from going for a ride.  Went to downtown Sturgis to check out all the vendors.  We were like kids at Christmas!!!  It started out sunny and very hot.  The shot of downtown Sturgis and many of the great photos from this trip are from "Diamond Dave" Grant and his awesome digital camera.  So I thought it was fitting to put his ugly mug from the tower that the awesome photo was taken from!!! :)

 

Motor 1 and I got back to the cabin first and there was no Smitty.  He had taken off on his own little adventure.  The one photo is one that he took from the bike.  Talk about a classic shot of a road going straight as far as the eye can see.  Garrick and Dave returned to the cabin just in time because the rains AND HAIL came!!!  Talk about a scramble trying to cover the bikes so there would be no hail damage.  We used everything from towels, to plastic trash can covers, to chairs.  We couldn't rather get a good photo of the hail but some were about the size of small rocks.  To report....no damage done to any of the bikes.  After the storm had passed us by we all needed some laundry done so we took care of that.  I thought it was a cool picture that Dave took of Garrick sitting on his bike talking to the family back home.

 

The last picture is of our youngster here doing a J.D. shot at the Jackyl concert last night.  My little Bro is crazy....I like him, but he's crazy.

 

Smitty's mileage today: 330

The other four of us: 37

 

Started out the day going to a restaurant that was recommended to us that it was an outstanding place for breakfast.  Got to the place around 1000 hours and the guy looks at us and says, "we don't serve breakfast."  Hamburgers and Chicken sandwiches with french fries for all this morning!!!  We accomplished everything we wanted to see today with riding to Crazy Horse, Mt. Rushmore and an unbelieveable ride outside of Custer with 180 degree turns, tunnels, and no guard rails....Kenny "Motor 1" Windsor says when we sit down to eat dinner, "that was some great roads but it sucked because I can't stand heights!"  If he was nervous while riding "The Needle," it never showed.  The weather today was a bit of everything.  This morning had a fog that was very thick, afternoon sunshine while we walked around the Civic Center looking at the Harley 2010 models.  And then rain riding to Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse.

 

Back to the cottage by 2030 hours with a quick half hour turn around to get to the Full Throttle Saloon to see Jackyl in concert.  Not a very long set but a good one.  The place was jumping.

 

Total milage: 237

 

Started out today with going to a bike wash to get the crap off of all the choppers.  Then started off for Devil's Tower which was an awesome ride through Spearfish Canyon which resides in the Black Hills National Forrest.  Lunch at the DQ and then a detour to go see Mark the Barber in Spearfish, South Dakota for Smitty's new dew.  Check the one profile (with Devil's Tower in the background) to see what he got!!!  He'll fit right in when we go to Crazy Horse Mountain tomorrow!!!  Then we headed down to Rapid City for some cottage supplies which included two cases of beer for the frig.  Dinner at Chili's and then home before the rains came.  Couldn't make it to the Aerosmith concert tonight which seems like a good move now because of the nasty weather.  Tomorrow will hopefully take us to Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, and some more great riding on some roads the locals call "The Needle".

 

Total mileage: 274.

 

 

 

Stage 2 of 3 complete.

 

Smitty and I met up with Big Country, Beef, and Motor 1 and made it to Sturgis.  Went out to One Eye Jack's last night and got in safe but late.  The wi-fi is very slow so here are a few pictures from the day.

 

Had a good afternoon ride to the carwash for Smitty's bike and then to the Colorado Railroad Museum.  Awesome time had mostly because I like trains and train museums.  Then we rode up this huge freakin mountain just to see Buffalo Bill's grave site.  It reminded me alot of Mt. Zion Park.  Hairpin turns with speed limit signs saying 15 mph.  I video taped the trip down so it should be cool.  Heard from Garrick and the boys late last night and they went over 700 miles from Indiana to Lincoln, Nebraska.  Last word from them this morning was Big Country needed a new tire and Garrick's bike needed some type of service and then it was back on the road to Wyoming.  Smitty and I will be getting oil changes here in Denver at 0900 hours and then we head north to meet up with the 3 Stooges.  If all goes as planned, tomorrow night I'll be updating this from Sturgis.

 

A down day here in Denver.  Didn't do too much.  The Smith's went to visit friends and I washed the bike.  Afterwards went for a short ride and did find something amusing (see below).  Tomorrow heading out to the mountains for a better once Smitty final cleans the Black Knight up!!!  It is killing him seeing my clean bike next to his!!!  It's 2120 hours and haven't heard from Beef and the boys.  I figure they are still pushing the limits and riding, or bedded down for the night somewhere.

 

Ride safe boys.

 

Stage 1 of 3 complete.

 

Woke up in Kearney, NE to a beautiful but chilly morning.  After the evening tornado-like type winds, hail, and rain, a little chill was no worry.  Started out at 0730 hours with blue skies, little traffic on I-80 west, and the temperature around 53 degrees.  Who needs Starbucks when you have that chilly air and 75+ mph down the highway!!!!  If my dad is reading this I know he is rolling his eyes at the speed but the speed limit was 75 mph.  Great ride into Denver and to Smitty's in-laws who live downtown about 6 blocks from everything in downtown Denver.  Down day tomorrow, not sure if the bikes will even get out.  I hope to get it somewhere to wash the half a billion bugs that are implanted on her.

 

Talked to Garrick "Beef" Valdes and him, Kenny "Motor 1" Windsor and Big Country made to their first leg of Indianapolis, IN for the night.  Safe ride guys and we'll see you in Wyoming on Tuesday!!!

 

Stop four: Denver, Colorado

Total miles: 378.

 

Before leaving Cedar Rapids, we hit two tours attractions for the area.  We rode to Anamosa to the National Motorcycle Museum and to Riverside to visit the future birthplace of Star Trek's James T. Kirk (born March 22, 2223).  I know, stupid but I've been a Trek fan since a kid and couldn't pass it up.  "No Show Joe" come to find out is a closet Trek fan also (as the picture shows).  After that it was 574 hard miles through Iowa and Nebraska.  Our goal was to make North Platte but Smitty's HD radio cut in with severe storms and we were heading right for them (wait until you see the video we got of this storm around us).  The skies looked like something from a Hollywood movie.  Iowa will be remembered for two things:

1. Fields of corn everywhere

2. Windmill Capital of the USA

 

Denver tomorrow!!!!

 

Stop three: Kearney, Nebraska

Total miles: 574.

 

Started out at 0730 hours with a little nip in the air and blue skies ahead.  About a hour and a half down the road, my voltage meter starting acting up like there was a loose connection somewhere.  Hoping that it wasn't the voltage regulator or God forbid, the stator.  Looked in the HD travel book and saw we were only 15 minutes from a dealer.  Got the bike there and 2 1/2 hours later, problem solved and we were back on the road.  Loose wire found by the mechanic and they didn't charge me.  I think they felt bad for us because 2 1/2 hours of riding were gone.

 

Our luck got a little better when our route took us perfectly around a rain storm.  On our way to the National Motorcycle Museum in Anamosa, Iowa, we stumbled across this Route 64 that was an outstanding ride.  We get to the museum at 1730 hours and it closes at 1700 hours.....so we bed down for the night in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  Hit the museum first thing in the morning.

 

Total miles: 505.

 

 

 

 

Got to Smitty's house and we departed around 1100 hours to some overcast but dry roads.  A prefect day for riding with no sun and limited traffic.....well did that change a few miles down the road.  Eighteen wheelers turned into twenty-four wheels (3 trailers) and then the closer we got to Pittsburgh, the worse it got.  And then.....the skies opened up!!!!  You know that it is a bad day of riding when you don't see the sun until 1750 hours and you're in OHIO!!!!!

 

First stop:  Home of Maxwell Klinger from MASH.

Total miles: 480.