Day 2 has been WAY better than day 1 for weather! No rain and coolish temps! Perfect for riding. In order to get somewhere today, I stayed west bound on I-90. I stopped in Belle Fourche, SD. I'm at my favorite campground, Wyatt's Hideaway.
On the way here, I stopped at the Travel Center (AKA rest stop) at the Missouri River.
No trip through South Dakota would be complete without a stop at the worlds largest tourist trap... Wall Drug. Not much has changed since the last time I was there 10 or so years ago.
I also took a little detour into the Black Hills. I rode down Spearfish Canyon. Bridal Veil Falls was flowing nicely.
At Wyatt's, I set up my tent close to our usual Sturgis Rally spot.
As I type this, heavy dark clouds have moved in, but no rain yet... Oh Snowball, the campground Cat says hello, but wouldn't stand still long enough to get her picture taken.
I've had the itch to take a motorcycle trip for a while now. So, on Wednesday, 6-12-13, I scratched that itch. I got a late start, but it doesn't matter... I don't even know where I'm going!
I left home and headed west. I had been thinking of South Dakota and maybe much further west! I crossed WI on hwy 77 and rode into MN.
It was lunch time when I got to Hinckley, MN. I had to stop at here. It's the closest one to my home...
I was going to cut diagonally across MN on 23, but dark rain clouds conspired against me. I had a bit of rain near Mora, MN, but it really started raining after Cold Spring. I tried to change directions in an attempt to get around the rain. I had no luck. I rode in the rain all the way to Worthington, MN. At one point I was totally lost. My usual "sense of direction" was not working in the rain, I had to put my GPS away because of the rain, and of all the paper maps I brought, Minnesota was not one of them! It reaaly didn't matter though, I have no plan.. or even destination.
I stopped for the night at the KOA in Mitchell, SD. I got the last Kamper Kabin. I was already wet and it looked like it might rain some more. I wanted to dry off.
A few nights ago, someone found our bird feeders. They ate everything, the seed, the suet, and they bent the 1" steel pole like it was rope... This morning, this little guy is in our back yard eating bird food off the ground..
It's not much bigger than a large dog. Guess I'll have to look twice before walking out in the woods to get more firewood!
UPDATE..... Tonight, a MUCH larger bear was pulling at our feeders just before we went to take them in. I wasn't fast enough with the camera to get any pictures, but I'll try and photograph him if he comes around again!
I've spent most of this weekend working on bikes.... well tires mostly. I put a set of Michelin PilotRoad 2s on the FJR. I've had them since I came back from Arkansas last June. I only got 6500 miles out of the Dunlop Roadsmarts. The roads in Arkansas must be very abrasive, and moving along at a spirited pace didn't help their life span!
A new set of PilotRoad 2s for the FJR...
I also replaced the tires on the Zx-14. It also got another set of PilotRoad 2s
Balancing the new rear tire...
Earlier this week, I spent some time refilling the wood supply in the garage. We burned everything that I had stored in there this winter. I found a couple more dead Oak trees out back, cut them up and split them. They tested between 8 and 15% moisture content. Ideal is 20% or less, so this stuff is ready to go! I also hauled in most of what I had drying in covered piles outside, it will be ready by fall. Another couple of logs, and it will be all full!
I read an article on line about using solar power to help speed the drying of firewood, I needed more space for wood storage anyways, so this is what I came up with. It's 2 4'x4' pallets bolted together, and some 2x4s I had in the garage... A little wood stain-sealer from the Re-store (cheap, $1.50 for the part of a gallon can!). I went all out and picked up 2 12' sheets of clear plastic roofing panel.... Not bad for an afternoons work.
The 4 sides will be lined with 4 mil plastic sheets. There's an open area under the high part in the back, and plenty of ventilation from the pallets. The sloped roof faces the south for maximum sun exposure. It's 4' x 8' x 4+', so it will hold a full cord of wood.... Filling it ought to keep me busy!
I finally mounted the camera that I got as a Christmas gift, so I went for a ride and shot lots of video. I'm still trying to figure out the editing and uploading. I posted some videos to YouTube, but some of them are pretty crappy.
It seems like in order for the quality to be there, I have to save the finished product in a larger size. It's a double edged sword, if I make them small, they look crappy... if I make them big, the quality is great, but it takes forever to upload to YouTube... I don't mind a 1440x1080 movie on my hard drive, it looks fantastic!. But, if I save the finished work in 320x240, so I can upload it to YouTube in less than a day, the small video looks really bad on YT.
I'm still experimenting.... my computer came with Windows Live Movie Maker and it's easy to use, any suggestions?
I know ride videos are not everyone's favorite, but here's a short 2 minute clip from Friday's ride. Even after rain and warm temps, there's still snow and ice all around me.
Here's the crappy, short clip with a deer at about 1:40..
And if you have time, a better quality long version of the above clip... The deer is at about 6:30 and a squirrel about 7:20? Hard to see on the YouTube videos, but clear as day on the raw, full sized clips in my computer.
Feel free to criticize or offer up better ways of doing this.. I'm still learning!
Thanks!
P.S. The smell of the fallen leaves and pine trees was amazingly strong. I wish this was smell-a-vision, I'd share it with you!
Last Sunday, I was thinking that if I repaired the snowblower it would force Mother Nature to change the season to spring. It didn't happen right away because that night, we got about 8 more inches of snow. It gave me a chance to test my repairs, and I'm happy to report that everything works fine.
On Monday, after the snow stopped, I went out to the middle of the front yard and measured... 21" of snow.
In the last couple of days the weather has turned around and been beautiful. The snow is rapidly disappearing. Today, I measured the snow in the front yard in the same spot as Monday and there's only 7.5" That's a loss of 13.5" of snow in 5 days!!
Nancy and I spent most of the day outside enjoying the sunshine. I changed the oil in my truck, while she cleaned out the inside of her car. I vacuumed out a winter's worth of sand from inside my truck and washed the floor mats.
I went for a ride around a couple of the local lakes. There were still people out ice fishing... look close..
There's still plenty of ice on the lakes and snow in the woods.
The bank clock says it all!
The last thing I did tonight was add a little something to the back window of my truck.
I use this blog to share my motorcycle road trips, and a small portion of my daily life, with my friends and family. It is a constantly changing work in progress!
Thanks for looking, and please, feel free to leave a comment!!!
From one of my favorite motorcycle movies, "One Week".
"When you get those rare moments of clarity, those flashes when the universe makes sense, you try desperately to hold onto them. They are the lifeboats for the darker times, when the vastness of it all, the incomprehensible nature of life is completely elusive. So the question becomes or should have been all along, what would you do if you knew you only had one day, or one week, or one month to live. What lifeboat would you grab onto? What secret would you tell? What band would you see? What person would you declare your love to? What wish would you fulfill? What exotic locale would you fly to for coffee? What book would you write?" ------- Ben Tyler
Took a look down a westbound road, Right away I made my choice Headed out to my big two-wheeler, I was tired of my own voice Took a bead on the northern plains And just rolled that power on
Twelve hours out of Mackinaw City Stopped in a bar to have a brew Met a girl and we had a few drinks And I told her what I'd decided to do
She looked out the window a long long moment Then she looked into my eyes She didn't have to say a thing, I knew what she was thinkin'
Roll, roll me away, Won't you roll me away tonight I too am lost, I feel double-crossed And I'm sick of what's wrong and what's right
We never even said a word, We just walked out and got on that bike And we rolled And we rolled clean out of sight
We rolled across the high plains Deep into the mountains Felt so good to me Finally feelin' free
Somewhere along a high road The air began to turn cold She said she missed her home I headed on alone
Stood alone on a mountain top, Starin' out at the great divide I could go east, I could go west, It was all up to me to decide
Just then I saw a young hawk flyin' And my soul began to rise And pretty soon My heart was singin'
Roll, roll me away, I'm gonna roll me away tonight Gotta keep rollin, gotta keep ridin', Keep searchin' till I find what's right
And as the sunset faded I spoke to the faintest first starlight And I said next time, Next time we'll get it right.
Bob Seger.
“Judge nothing, you will be happy. Forgive everything, you will be happier. Love everything, you will be happiest.” ~Sri Chinmoy
