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On The Road with Lou!
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Location Date Alberta 1534892400 Montana 1534719600 Idaho 1534633200 Nevada 1534546800 Colorado 1534460400 New Mexico 1534374000 Arizona 1534287600 Kansas 1533942000 Missouri 1533769200 Nebraska 1533596400 North Dakota 1533510000 British Columbia 1471561200 Alaska 1471129200 Texas 1439506800 Louisiana 1438988400 Wyoming 1438470000 Mississippi 
1409353200 Florida 1409266800 Pennsylvania 1408575600 Georgia (Usa) 1407970800 Tennessee 1407711600 Ohio 1312844400 Washington D.c. 1312498800 Maryland 1312412400 Indiana 1312326000 Iowa 1312153200 Minnesota 1312066800 Saskatchewan 1311894000 - Vicksburg
I had a great night last evening, I caught up my KSC blogs, and then caught up all the way this morning. I was done around 1000 so I left a wee bit early today, at about 1030 and it was sunny and warm. I continued on my quest for a sewing kit to fix my wardrobe malfunction. I stopped at 2 gas stations and one 7/11 without success.
I was standing in the sundries aisle of a Kangaroo Stop (convenience store/gas station) when I had an epiphany, two of them actually. The first was one was that I should WD40 my leather jacket's zipper, which I did. I didn't buy the can, just sampled a quick squirt. Wow, what a difference that made! I should have done that years ago, and I will do it annually now!
The second epiphany was that I was looking for a sewing kit in all the wrong places. The right place was right there in front of me! Dollar stores permeate the landscape in 'merica, there are at least 5 versions of them I can recall;
I was planning on driving through New Orleans so I could drive the Lake Ponchartrain bridge, but when I was at a point where I had to commit to the course the sky in that direction, due west, was pitch black, I let the weather direct my course and turned northbound where the sky was blue with scattered white clouds. I think I may make N'awlins my destination there next year, I haven't been there since the early 90's.
I got off the Interstate and started following a country road northbound, gradually the shoulders of the road started to show signs of recent rain, then the road itself was wet, then the sky clouded over..................all bad news. I was catching up to a storm system. The rain started, intermittently and a moderate ping on the in helmet sound rain scale. At first I thought it was a localized system that I could drive through quickly, but then the heavens opened up just to prove me wrong! I pulled into a gas station to fuel up and consider my option. (thats singular!)
I shot a video of how hard it was raining, but video never does extreme weather justice.
Although I was already quite wet, as we know it can be very uncomfortable riding in the wet for a prolonged period of time. We were about half way through our 700 km day, and I did not relish the thought of 3 or 4 more hours of being wet, so we did the unthinkable! We put on our rainsuit because it was raining. I shot a video of me doing that so you can get an idea of why I am so reluctant, it is about an 8 minute struggle that leaves you dripping in sweat; time compressed here for your viewing pleasure!
The rain suit was, predictably, uncomfortable, but in the end I would have suffered considerably more without it as I drove for about 4 hours in the rain, at times very heavy. For about 90 minutes between Meridian and Jackson Mississippi I was following a semi through a driving rain storm because; A) he was doing 75 while everyone else was doing 45, B) he had bright LED brake lights on the top of his trailer that were easy to see, C) if there was anything on the road he would bull doze it.
I find 'mericans have the nasty habit of slowing down in heavy rain, which makes then prone to being rear ended cus they don't have running lights on. More times than I can remember a car has suddenly materialized out of a solid sheet of rain. I prefer to keep the hammer down, and commit myself to void, hoping that there won't be an obstacle or object on the highway that I can't see.
During the high speed rain run the Rocket3 reached its 100 000km milestone. My odo reads 66 498 km, added to my original odo that had 31 502 km when it was dropped and broken by my mechanic during some maintenance. I knew that would happen today and I had planned on stopping then and shooting a memorial video, but the timing just was not right! Happy 100K Birthday though!
Navigational errors are also easy to make in heavy rain when the road signs are hard to read. My biggest fear is localized flash flooding, especially across the highway. I better hope the roadway designers did their job when it comes to drainage.
Once, on my DC trip years ago, I was driving in a huge thunderstorm outside of Cinncinati, I was lost, not wearing a rain suit and a power outage had knocked out the streetlights. I was driving in almost pitch dark, illuminated only by the almost continuous lightning. As I drove the water on the road kept getting deeper and deeper. When it was over the tops of my shoes with my feet on the pegs I stopped, I was in the middle of a huge expanse of flood water. I couldn't see the road anymore so I turned around, hoped I was 180 degrees to my original course and headed back the way I came. Luckily I didn't drive off the road!
Eventually the rain petered out and the sky started to lighten, I had high hopes I would find the sun, sadly I did not. As the clock approached 1700h and the odometer clicked over 700 km I decided to stop for the evening in Vicksburg, MI. The trifecta was achieved with a Best Western, a Kangaroo and Sally's BBQ Pit. After F&B considerations were handled the rest of the evening was filled with sewing up my wardrobe malfunction. I won't get invited to Aunt Bea's Quilting Club but I won't get arrested for indecent exposure either!
The rest of the time was spent drying my riding gear, luckily this hotel has a very robust hair dryer that doesn't cut out frequently, and the AC unit has a very high output fan. The lady at the front desk offered to let me use the hotel's commercial dryer but I am scared my pants will end up in the lint trap if the are exposed to that kind of tumbling!
I set my alarm for 0600 to put my jacket in the sun, but sadly it is overcast at that time so I go back to bed. It is 15 minutes to 1100, departure time, and I have dried everything except my jacket. I have been watching the weather channel for a couple of hours and checked the radar for Mississippi and Arkansas and I feel it is in my best interests to head north today. If I can find some sun I will dry my jacket on the road.
Talk soon!
I was standing in the sundries aisle of a Kangaroo Stop (convenience store/gas station) when I had an epiphany, two of them actually. The first was one was that I should WD40 my leather jacket's zipper, which I did. I didn't buy the can, just sampled a quick squirt. Wow, what a difference that made! I should have done that years ago, and I will do it annually now!
The second epiphany was that I was looking for a sewing kit in all the wrong places. The right place was right there in front of me! Dollar stores permeate the landscape in 'merica, there are at least 5 versions of them I can recall;
- Dollar General
- Dollars & Sense
- Dollar $tore
- Dollar Tree
- Family Dollar
I was planning on driving through New Orleans so I could drive the Lake Ponchartrain bridge, but when I was at a point where I had to commit to the course the sky in that direction, due west, was pitch black, I let the weather direct my course and turned northbound where the sky was blue with scattered white clouds. I think I may make N'awlins my destination there next year, I haven't been there since the early 90's.
I got off the Interstate and started following a country road northbound, gradually the shoulders of the road started to show signs of recent rain, then the road itself was wet, then the sky clouded over..................all bad news. I was catching up to a storm system. The rain started, intermittently and a moderate ping on the in helmet sound rain scale. At first I thought it was a localized system that I could drive through quickly, but then the heavens opened up just to prove me wrong! I pulled into a gas station to fuel up and consider my option. (thats singular!)
I shot a video of how hard it was raining, but video never does extreme weather justice.
Although I was already quite wet, as we know it can be very uncomfortable riding in the wet for a prolonged period of time. We were about half way through our 700 km day, and I did not relish the thought of 3 or 4 more hours of being wet, so we did the unthinkable! We put on our rainsuit because it was raining. I shot a video of me doing that so you can get an idea of why I am so reluctant, it is about an 8 minute struggle that leaves you dripping in sweat; time compressed here for your viewing pleasure!
The rain suit was, predictably, uncomfortable, but in the end I would have suffered considerably more without it as I drove for about 4 hours in the rain, at times very heavy. For about 90 minutes between Meridian and Jackson Mississippi I was following a semi through a driving rain storm because; A) he was doing 75 while everyone else was doing 45, B) he had bright LED brake lights on the top of his trailer that were easy to see, C) if there was anything on the road he would bull doze it.
I find 'mericans have the nasty habit of slowing down in heavy rain, which makes then prone to being rear ended cus they don't have running lights on. More times than I can remember a car has suddenly materialized out of a solid sheet of rain. I prefer to keep the hammer down, and commit myself to void, hoping that there won't be an obstacle or object on the highway that I can't see.
During the high speed rain run the Rocket3 reached its 100 000km milestone. My odo reads 66 498 km, added to my original odo that had 31 502 km when it was dropped and broken by my mechanic during some maintenance. I knew that would happen today and I had planned on stopping then and shooting a memorial video, but the timing just was not right! Happy 100K Birthday though!
Navigational errors are also easy to make in heavy rain when the road signs are hard to read. My biggest fear is localized flash flooding, especially across the highway. I better hope the roadway designers did their job when it comes to drainage.
Once, on my DC trip years ago, I was driving in a huge thunderstorm outside of Cinncinati, I was lost, not wearing a rain suit and a power outage had knocked out the streetlights. I was driving in almost pitch dark, illuminated only by the almost continuous lightning. As I drove the water on the road kept getting deeper and deeper. When it was over the tops of my shoes with my feet on the pegs I stopped, I was in the middle of a huge expanse of flood water. I couldn't see the road anymore so I turned around, hoped I was 180 degrees to my original course and headed back the way I came. Luckily I didn't drive off the road!
Eventually the rain petered out and the sky started to lighten, I had high hopes I would find the sun, sadly I did not. As the clock approached 1700h and the odometer clicked over 700 km I decided to stop for the evening in Vicksburg, MI. The trifecta was achieved with a Best Western, a Kangaroo and Sally's BBQ Pit. After F&B considerations were handled the rest of the evening was filled with sewing up my wardrobe malfunction. I won't get invited to Aunt Bea's Quilting Club but I won't get arrested for indecent exposure either!
The rest of the time was spent drying my riding gear, luckily this hotel has a very robust hair dryer that doesn't cut out frequently, and the AC unit has a very high output fan. The lady at the front desk offered to let me use the hotel's commercial dryer but I am scared my pants will end up in the lint trap if the are exposed to that kind of tumbling!
I set my alarm for 0600 to put my jacket in the sun, but sadly it is overcast at that time so I go back to bed. It is 15 minutes to 1100, departure time, and I have dried everything except my jacket. I have been watching the weather channel for a couple of hours and checked the radar for Mississippi and Arkansas and I feel it is in my best interests to head north today. If I can find some sun I will dry my jacket on the road.
Talk soon!
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