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Published: October 13th 2009
DAY 16 - WED - 30 SEPT
Everyday I have been entering my gas reciepts and mileage in a spreadsheet. Its been interesting looking at my MPG throughout the trip. As I am entering yesterdays reciepts I notice that the best MPG happened yesterday as I was heading north through TX and OK. Believe it or not I got 70 MPG. My average has been around 50, so I double checked my numbers. I have a slight noise in the motor but its not using any oil and I'm getting 70 MPG, make all the noise you want.
This was to be a day of heroes. I only had 260 miles to go today. I had planned to take hwy 54 to Iola then head north on hwy 59 through Garnett and then on to KC. This way I would avoid interstate all day. Not in a hurry I decided to sleep in and enjoy the last day of someone else making the bed. It was 11am before I was packing the bike. The hotel staff were all family, probably all part owners in someway or other. The motel was mostly vacant except for me this morning, last night
they had been near capacity. The owner was happy as it had not been that long ago he was having troubles. I asked him why so many people were staying there. I was thinking there must be a festival of some sort in the area. Most the motels were busy. The motel owner said that they were building a wind farm in the area and a lot of the crew was staying at his motel. He said they were also building one near Greensburg. I had stayed in Pratt so this morning I could get a picture of their HOT and COLD water towers. After I packed the bike I filled the tank and off I went down the road to home. But I pulled out of Pratt before I remembered about the water towers. I was 15 miles down the road at Cunningham KS when I remembered the towers. I turned around and went back. The water towers had been a picture bonus in the Not Superman Rally this summer. The rally was in July with 100+ temps, it was one HOT weekend. One of the riders that made it to Pratt for that bonus had humorously sent a
text to the rally masters and told them that the towers had changed they both said HOT. Not knowing it was a joke one of the rally masters spent time calling the Pratt chamber of commerce and other contacts in Pratt trying to verify the towers both said hot. Since the rally I had wanted to see the towers for myself. After my picture I was back on the road again headed toward home.
The noise in the motor was not noticeable because of the wind and wind gusts. When she first hesitated I could not really tell if it was the wind gusts or if the motor was the cause. It took less than a half mile to know it was the motor, I was loosing power. Within a few feet I was dead on the side of the road. I pushed her up to an entry way to a farmers field. The motor would restart but it sounded like there were marbles being shot around inside the motor. Not a comforting sound.
I pulled out my phone and turned it on. I was in the middle of fields with no towns in site. My phone doesn’t
work when I am at home, so I had little faith it would work here. But it showed a very strong signal, I was flabbergasted. I called Darrel, my buddy in KCK. He was collecting my mail for me at my house and generally watching after my stuff while I was gone. After some small talk I told him I was broke down and asked if he would come get me. “Sure, where are you?” Darrel is my first hero of the day. We had an hour or so of trying to find a trailer but after his boss let him off he headed down to pick me up. I broke down sometime around 12:30pm. I expected him about 6:30pm. I had food on the bike and 3 liters of water so all I had to do was wait. I had a book of SUDOKU so I pulled the bags off the top case because the bike was wobbling in the wind. Using the gym bag as a desk, the sleeping bag and jacket as a back to lean against the bike, then using the footboard as an armrest I was quite comfortable. It was windy but not cold and
not hot. The heat from the sun was comfortable. I was actually quite content.
It took over an hour for someone to pull over and ask if I needed help. That was a highway patrolman. He offered to call a tow truck, or give me a ride to the next town, but I declined. He said it was fine if I wanted to just wait on the road and gave me a number to call with my cell phone if I required assistance later. An hour and a half after I was sitting there, passed by many bikes of all kinds a Harley stopped. Phil from New Jersey stopped, my second hero. We looked at a couple things he suggested but there really wasn’t much to do. We called the Harley shop in Wichita they wanted well over $200 for a lift that 62 miles. I was thinking I could save time if I could meet Darrel in Wichita. Phil ended up taking my name and cell number and said he would look farther down the road if there was any aid he would put them in contact with me. I was nervous about my phone going dead so
Bobz Bikz
What a great group of guys.I was turning it off most of the time and just turned it on every hour for a while. When I turned it on at 3:30 I had a message from Bobz Bikz in Kingman KS, he asked me to call him. Kingman I was to learn was 12 miles east of my current location. It was the next town up the road. Bob was hero #3. Bob offered to come get me and the bike and offered to send food out. When I told him I was really okay and would be fine, he became more insistant. Finally he said well you can wait in my shop for your ride. I agreed he could come get me and he was so happy. He didn’t tell me that the forecast was for 60mph winds and hail later that evening. Pretty soon there was trailer, problem was my motorcycle is a LOW, which means I have about 4” of ground clearance. We couldn’t get the bike on the trailer because it grounded out on the ramp. So a phone call and out came another tech to help get her on the trailer. As we were waiting for the extra help the
dust storm started. I took a picture down the road and it was opaque with dust. Bob was super nice. I stayed at the shop then walked over to the Country Mart for a gatoraid. I walked across the street to the pizza place and paid for a couple pizzas to be delivered at noon the next day to the bike shop. Bob and his crew were super nice. Bobz is the second largest used bike dealership in the state of KS. I looked a several bikes and the prices were fair. Check out their website the next time you need a bike, they deliver for free to Kansas City. www.bobzbikz.com
The shop closed at 6PM but Bob offered me a computer to surf on and we waited for Darrel, who was at Wichita and heading to Kingman. Darrel got there around 6:30pm as soon as they loaded and secured the bike we were gone. Its great to have such good friends. Not everyone would head out 4 hours to come get me. The ride home we caught up on current events as it had been awhile since we had a chance to sit and talk. We stopped at
Beto Junction, a truck stop, to eat on the way home. They are good, fast and reasonable, something you don’t find many places. Unloading the bike in the garage it was home again. It was going to feel good to sleep in my own bed again.
Effie rolled 3807 miles under her own power. The trip was 4535 miles if you count the 2 trailer rides Effie managed.
66 miles for the day. Odometer at the end of the day was 126269 miles.
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