08 Central Midwest HOGs Presidential Race Challenge - 1st points

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So the weather is beautiful, in the high 60’s heading for the low 70’s (Fahrenheit). I just got the new floorboards installed (08 Installing Floorboards on my 05 883 Harley Davidson Sportster, Effie. ) and I am itching to get out on the road and try them out. The night before I had plotted some of the points I thought would count toward the Presidential Race challenge that my HOG group is having. The Presidential Race is open to all our members. Every year my HOG group offers some kind of a challenge for fun or t-shirts.

In 2006 the challenge was the I’ve Been Everywhere Tour. Using the 91 locations in Johnny Cash’s song, you take a picture of your bike at the sign. That was the year I was traveling all over the US and Canada for the ABC’s of Touring Challenge, so I got quite a few of the locations. Some where in the high 70’s. Then in 2007 there was the Road Kill Safari, which was based around finding towns named after animals. I got around 19 of those.


This years Presidential Race has 2 parts.

Part One: You get a picture that shows your bike, a piece of currency (like a dollar bill), and our dealer name with the sign of a town/county that has the same name as a president. You can get points for presidential libraries, monuments, birthplaces, and some other assorted places. Points vary as to what you get. Like a town is worth one point unless you have the dealer name in the pic then it is worth 6 points. You can get multiples of the same name as long as you can prove they are from different states. Like Cleveland MO and Cleveland KS and Cleveland AR. But if you don’t prove what state each one is in then you only get the one Cleveland. Top Prize is a $100 gift cert at the dealership.

Part Two: Every HOG meeting the members cast ballots on who they think will win. At the end of the year, the person with the most votes also wins a prize. In the event of a tie in part one, the tie breaker would the number of votes cast for each person.

On Friday night I had found a list of the presidents then plugged each one into Map Source to find what states had towns that shared those names. There was a nice 400 mile loop that I planned for Saturday, after I installed my floorboards. However, it took a little longer getting the floorboards on and I decided that I had better cut the trip shorter. I didn’t get the floorboards completed until after lunch and the American Legion Riders group I belong to always have a bike night the first Saturday at the post. That starts at 6PM. So I decide that I will just go to Cleveland MO and Bush City, KS then see what time it is.

Programming the GPS (Quest 2) to take me to Cleveland, I decided I would just let it take me however it wanted to go. Its 32 miles to Cleveland. Usually I modify the route it wants to take and follow how I want to go until I am not sure anymore, but today I plan to just let it take me there. So of course I end up in stop and go traffic on a road that is running parallel to the interstate. But this is good, because it gives me practice getting my feet on and off the floorboards and shifting from 1st to 2nd, which I am missing about half the time, only getting it into Neutral. Addition of the floorboards is going to take some getting used to. The shifter is too short, and only the lip of my boot sole will fit under there reliably. Quest ends up guiding me down Holmes road for miles. Argh. Lots of stop and go traffic.

As I approach Cleveland there is a sign that Welcomes us, stating that Cleveland has a population of 572. The sign does not state that Cleveland is located in MO so I pass it by. A right turn on MO Y highway and I am in Cleveland. I am both fascinated and depressed by towns like Cleveland. Long past its heyday, Cleveland’s commerce area is a collection of mostly vacant buildings. One of these that struck me was the Morgan Organ building. I love small towns I grew up in a small town. When I was in high school we went big time when a Dollar General came to town. I really wish I lived in a small town again, but employment opportunities are scarce there. Any way I am creeping through town which is about 2 blocks long looking for a post office, city hall or some government building that states that Cleveland is in MO. I mean I am creeping, I’m in 1st gear checking out as much of the landscape I can along with watching for traffic.

As I approach the one intersection in town I am looking for cross traffic, but I am really really late in seeing the STOP sign. The same time I see the STOP sign I see the cop sitting around the corner. Now I have a decision to make and a second to make it. There is a car following me through town, I am not worried about him running me over, but there is a car behind me. I could pull the front brake and stop in 2 feet. Then I have to get my feet off the floorboards and safely on the ground, without my feet getting hung up on the floorboards as they go down. If I fail in this I am going to fall over. I decide to not to try and creep on through the intersection looking for a place to pull over. Sure enough here comes the police officer around the corner with the lights on. There is a wide shoulder, so I pull over and get comfortable.

Its been a very long time since I have been pulled over by the police. I know I have the registration for the bike, but not sure I have the insurance paper, so as soon as I pull over, I dig out my wallet and start pulling cards out, looking for my proof of insurance. I didn’t mention it before but its WINDY, so I have my little tank bag open and I am trying to look through all of the cards as my hands and cards are tucked into this little bag so nothing blows away. The officer approached and started talking about bikes. He had not ridden yet this year but had bought an Intruder off of Craig’s List for $75. So we talked for about 5 minutes before he asks “You know why I pulled you over?” I told him that I know he has heard it all and in my defense I went into my, distracted by looking around and late seeing the stop sign, new floorboards and fear of falling over saga. He chuckles and says that new controls can take some getting used to. He asked me for my proof of insurance.. I tell him I can’t find it, I can give him my card for my jeep and it’s the same agent and company on the bike. He looks at the bike again and says something about ‘I suppose anyone that had a rig like this would have insurance on it.’ Still smiling he asks “Well do you have your drivers license?” I promptly hand him my DL. He says well if this comes back clear then I’ll just let you go. Relief. I was really relieved on the way home when I realized that my insurance had just renewed, so an old card if I had had it would have been expired.

He gives me directions to the Post Office and we part company.

When I pulled up to the PO I knew it would be a problem. A normal PO will have a lettering on the building that will say US Post Office, City, State, ZIP CODE. Some times it will also have United States of America. The Cleveland PO has US Post Office. The window and doors don’t even have lettering on them telling you its for Cleveland. So I walk up to the door and look at all the papers that are taped inside on the glass. It didn’t have anything that said MO. Luckily there were a bunch of contact numbers on one of the sheets taped to the door 2 were 911 numbers but one was for the local county hospital that had a 606 prefix. So I took a picture of the door and its signs along with the one of my bike, dollar and T-shirt in front of the PO.

After taking my pics I got back on the highway and headed south. Ending up on 169 heading toward Garnett, I began to notice the sandblasting my legs were getting. Up to this point, my ride had been in solitude, but now with other cars around me I notice how much sand is getting thrown up by them and then driven into me by the wind. I continue on for a couple miles then decide to just go to back to the post for the Riders gathering. There will be more fun days to do this ride on. One last stop on the way to the post for a Johnson County sign, I use it every year for my ABC's. Its really easy to get to and pose the bike in front of the sign. The sign also has the state name on it so Johnson County is labeled as being in KS.

The gathering was small but a fun group was there. I was well entertained for the rest of the evening. It was over a hundred miles for the day before I got home.

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