06 Far East Ride - Day 16 - VA

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This is the 16th part of a series about my trip on my 2005 883 Low Harley Sportster ‘Effie’ from Kansas City to Nova Scotia and back. This was part of my vacation from 4 to 20 AUG 2006

Sat 19AUG06

Yesterday I passed a caravan of 10 new school buses traveling in the slow lane. They were not letting any one in the line and thus were playing havoc at entrance ramps. They were not loaded with kids and looked like new buses being delivered Laidway or something like that was painted on the buses. Well today I passed school buses again. These were older and were in pairs. One would be towing second one. One of these buses was pulling a flat bed trailer, that had a panel van and a trailer on the flat bed. It was having issues making it up the hills in a timely manner.

VA Highway Patrol was out in force south of Roanoke. At least 10 cars pulled over in the first 80 miles. There were even more HPs perched & ready to pull their target from the moving herd. I was not speeding as I was just pudding along listening to Sirius Radio. Last week on the way to Canada I heard a commercial for the Classic Radio Channel. I tuned in and became hooked. It plays all the old classic radio dramas. So I am listening during the day to Boston Blackie, Crime Photographer, The Green Hornet, Gunsmoke, My Beat is Broadway, Fibber McGee and Molly, Abbott and Costello. But my favorite is the one is the Great Gildersleeve.. Its an Uncle raising his niece and nephew. He is single, a bit of a boy himself, running for mayor, taking a correspondence detective course and engaged to a woman who is reluctant to commit to a wedding date. This guy sings great. The station also plays the original commericals that were aired with the programs, they are about as entertaining as the programs are. Anyway, traveling with a Sirius or XM is the only way to go. Whether you want music, NPR or radio serials, there is lots of channels to choose from and it doesn’t get boring. Beats listening to the same 3 CDs that’s loaded on the MP3 for a weekend. I would have gone nuts by now. I need to find my MP3 player though. I want to load some gospels on it. There are times when that is the only appropriate music to listen to as I view areas I know without a doubt is Gods country. I have not found any gospel channels on Sirius. I really wanted to listen to Johnny Cash’s album Mother’s Hymn Book a couple times out on this trip. The radio is great though. Its neat to travel anywhere and not run out of range as you are engrossed in the program or music you are listening to. The only complaint I have about the Classic Radio channel is that it repeats its programming, so what plays in the morning is going to be on again in the afternoon or evening. It was a great addition to the bike. This winter I want to redo the mount I made though. This one is a little to close to the GPS, so when I put the baggie over it (when it rains), it is difficult to squeeze the baggie through the 2 mounts. I want to use smoke LEXAN next time too. I used clear this time and it looks dirty after a few hundred bugs smash into it, even after its cleaned it has that grimy look to it. The only problem with the radio is that it isn’t water proof, so if its anything more that an sprinkle I have to either switch the power off to it or put a baggie around it so it doesn’t get wet. A light sprinkle and its protected by a back plate that’s part of its mount and by the GPS that is mounted over it. Its safe enough even at a moderate rain, but I’m in trouble if a vehicle passes me. This thing has more functions than I am using. I need to read up on it and use more of what it offers. It will record up to 90 minutes of a channel, I have found that nice, I can pause the radio, it will start recording from that time, I can hop off the bike to pay for gas or deal with something else. When I am done, unpause and the program and it continues from where I left it.

I was delayed an hour in Roanoke VA as I waited for the HD dealer to do an oil change. Initially they informed me that they could not do the oil change, Saturday was a first come, first served day. So I have changed the oil numerous times so I had asked if they could just give me a container to drain the oil in and I would do it myself in the parking lot in the back. They weren’t having that either. So I finally said fine I would just go buy some Gatorade and get my own containers. At that point they made time for me, but I had to wait for the mechanic to finish what he was working on. No free food. Man I miss the Central Harley Davidson in Olathe KS, they have better free food on Saturday for lunch then I eat on my own all week. I have been hungry for their steak fajitas for weeks and have not been able to be there on Saturday.

Fantastic weather the whole way today. Very light sprinkles a couple times, just maybe 10 drops on the visor then nothing. Wet roads most of the way from Nashville. It was all interstates today. Stopped just short of Jackson TN for the night, sign said $25 for a room at the Knights Inn. Hoping to have a big overhang to park Effie under for the night, you know how most Knights Inns are set up. Since it has been raining, I figure it would for the rest of the night. When I checked in I found that it would be $45 for a room down stairs because only double bed rooms are left. The overhang is small and Effie will be out in the weather. I wimp out and get a room. Its around 10PM.

Looked at altering the route to ride AR HWY 7 on the way home, but its an extra 100 miles. At this point I am ready to be home, so I will stick with the ‘fastest’ route that Quest has plotted for me. And yes it is that long ALWAYS crappy and ALWAYS under construction stretch of I-70 between St Louis and KC. Hopefully I can make it the rest of the way on home without rain.

I can tell I am getting closer to home, the fields of corn are not as lush as the eastern crops are.

The First Journal in this Series is: 06 Far East Ride - Day 1 - MO
The Route Map for the trip is located in the last Journal: 06 Far East Ride - Day 17 - HOME

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Photos

IBE #38 Monterey TN
The lone point I picked up today.