Day One

This is going to be a short one. After about eleven and a half hours on the road I am safely in my motel room in Eureka, MO. Thank goodness for a half way decent memory! I forgot to bring my itinerary but, somehow I remembered the exit for the hotel (well, almost – I got off on the wrong road and had to get back on the freeway to the next exit) and found it by recalling the visual I had of the map on Yahoo Maps when I looked it up last night.

It was, thankfully, an uneventful ride down and I am hoping for the same tomorrow. The forecast is calling for mid 70’s and rain from here to Oklahoma City! That is about an eight hour ride – FUN! Actually, checking the forecast for cities along the route they are calling for showers in the morning in Missouri and then scattered thunderstorms throughout the rest of the day. Well, scattered means they could be scattered away from the road so, we’ll see what the day brings. It is even supposed to rain in Amarillo, Texas!! I thought that was in the desert!

After sitting in traffic in Indianapolis with the temp sensor showing 96F on the black asphalt of the outer ring road for about 20 minutes I am grateful for a milder forecast for the passage through the Texas and Oklahoma pan handles.

I really thought it would be cooler today but, man did it get hot!! At my first stop just north of Columbus, OH I turned on one of those outside faucets they have at rest areas and soaked the pant legs of my riding gear. In the winter I ride with neck warmer thingy (I think it is called a dickie, or some such thing) tucked into my collar and helmet to keep the wind off my neck. In the other seasons I put it on but don’t tuck it into the helmet. That way, if it gets cooler, I can just tuck it in and keep going.

Well, I read someplace that if you soak it with water and then put it on it is supposed to help cool you off on a hot day. Boy does it ever! At my next stop near the Indiana border I soaked both that and my vented gloves and when I got on the road, though it was in the low 90’s, my hands were cold and my neck was cool! The gloves dried off in about 20 miles but the neck thing took a little longer because I let the water get down onto the top part of my shirt so all that had to dry off. It was almost like being in air conditioning! I am glad to have a new one in my little bag of tricks!

When you are on the freeway in the summer, just as in a car, you get the sun predominantly on one side. What happens on the bike is the foot in the sun gets hot. Strange thing happened today, my right foot was in the sun for a couple of hours but it was my left foot that got hot. Hmm, strange!

I am glad it did not rain today (the forecast had called for early evening rain in the St. Louis area tonight. I did pack my rain gear but as I contemplated the possibility of rain somewhere in either Indiana or Illinois I could not remember where I packed the bits and pieces of my rain gear. Needless to say, tomorrow, all the stuff I need for rain will either be on my person or at the top of the bag so that I can quickly grab it in the event it is needed.

Long slogs on the freeway on the bike are an exercise in mental stamina. There really is nothing to do. The bike is balanced and stable so steering inputs are minute. You do think about your butt because after a while you need to start scooting about the seat so that you don’t get monkey butt. I play music on the radio and boogie, probably, to the entertainment of a motorist here and there! After a while, though you get weary of that, you get tired of listening to music, tired of counting Wal-Mart trucks, red barns, brown cows, Florida license plates, yellow butterflies, etc. Then, you think through stuff until you get tired of thinking then you look at the map only to see that you still have five hours on the road! Then you get random nutty things in your head. I so much prefer to ride in the mountains where the road challenges you and makes you think and the scenery takes your breath away!

Hopefully tomorrow goes as smoothly as today and the weather clears up when I get to the mountains on Saturday so that I can enjoy the roads and get some good pictures. Speaking of pictures, no photos from today. I could have taken some shots of the corn crop coming in but ............. that didn’t happen!!

Well, my butt feels a little better and I am yawning like a hippo so I am going to sign off, get some shuteye and try not to think about rain!