Road Trip '11, pt. 2

The next leg of our journey takes us from Mammoth Spring, Ar, to Memphis Tn, Jackson Ms, and finally one of our destinations, Gulfport, Ms where our youngest son, Jayson, is stationed with the Navy.

Now it's starting to get hot, by 10am it was in the mid-90's and it was only going to get hotter.

The bridge into Memphis-

For this trip I gave Mississippi the award of being the most boring state to ride in, granted we could've probably found more scenic routes, but we didn't look for them, our mission was Gulfport. Why boring? Because from Memphis to Gulfport it's nothing but this-

The one perk to all  this nothingness was this-

As we got into Gulfport the temp was 107, but none of that mattered when we met up with our son, Jayson-

We also welcomed a new member to our family, Jayson is now married and we got to meet his wife, Julie. Welcome to our family Julie!

Jayson, Julie, and their Siberian husky, Leonidous

Jayson and Julie are also expecting their 1st child in December, our 1st grandchild, talk about making a guy feel old, lol!

No trip to Gulfport is complete without a trip to the beach-

Leonidous' 1st swim in the Gulf

nope, he don't like water, lol!

my wife and I

Good breakfast right next to our motel!

Jayson and Julie also took us on an excursion to Mobile, Al, pretty cool city, but they can keep the traffic, lol!

I also got some new ink while in Gulfport. My sons and I had been talking about all of us getting a tatto that was representative of our family, a family crest if you will. After getting the idea on paper, we turned it over to Billy Joe at Gulfport Tattoo's and let him work his magic-

The star is for my service in the Army, the Navy anchor is for my son Jayson, the treble cleff is for my son James, and the Korean lettering is for my wife, it says "Family First".

Road Trip 2011, pt. 1

Well, it's over, it was amazing, but it went all too quickly. Road Trip '11 is over and what a trip it was, my wife and I took 17 days off, visited 11 states, and covered just over 3300 miles. I've gone through and edited pics and still have over 400 of them so instead of one huge post I'm going to break them down into several posts over the next few days.

Our ride for this trip was the newest addition to our stable, our '02 Kawasaki Vulcan Drifter 1500.

Loaded and ready for some miles!

The Drifter performed great during the trip. She rides like a caddy, although I need to get the rear suspension dialed in a bit better, bottoming out was not uncommon on rough surfaces. I was somewhat disappointed in the Corbin seat. After 700 miles my tailbone couldn't take it anymore so I stopped at a HD dealer in Southhaven, Ms and bought a Saddlemen gel pad. That was a very well spent $100 and made 500 mile days a breeze. This was also my 1st experience having a drivers backrest, I'm spoiled now, that made miles very relaxed. I found that fuel mileage was directly related to the twist of the wrist, lol! The worst I got was 37mpg with the best tank coming in right at 49mpg. Overall, I averaged a solid 40mpg for the trip, not bad for a fully loaded bagger. I would say that my only disappointment with the Drifter is it's handling in twisties or rather lack of. However, to be fair, I'm used to my Vulcan 900 and  my '06 XL1200C, both of which are very nimble, well balanced bikes. The Drifter is a pig in comparison, the 900 and 1200 weigh in at 650lbs and 570lbs respectively, while the Drifter weighs in 720lbs, then add 100lbs of gear and 300lbs between my wife and I, and you've got one heavy set up. There was definitely no lack of power, the 1500cc's provided plenty of power for every situation, the Drifter is an excellent touring bike. Without a doubt, it's the best bike I own for putting serious miles, not to say the 900 and 1200 can't do it, they just can't do it as smooth or comfortably as the Drifter.

The 1st leg was a 500 mile shot from home to Mammoth Spring, Arkansas. We've made this same run before and there's not a lot for scenery so we changed things up and took a back road in Missouri that we hadn't been on before. Hwy 14 runs through part of the Mark Twain Natn'l Forest and is a very nice ride.

The view from our room in Mammoth Spring, Ar.

Unpacked and relaxin" at the end of day 1

Headin' out early into Arkansas!

Lake of the Ozarks, Mo

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Cannelton Indiana locks and damn

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Road trip update

So far we're 10 days into our road trip and it's going very well. Currently we're hanging out at in Louisville, Ky with an old Army buddy of mine, Jay, who I can't thank enough for his hospitality and help during our stay here! It's fun trying to keep up with him exploring Louisville considering he rides a Honda CBR1000, lol! We'll be hanging out here in Louisville till Monday.

The trip has been incredible so far. The Drifter has performed great, the worst mpg I've gotten so far is 37 and the best was 49. I'm not very impressed with the Bridgestone Excedra's, the rear was worn out by the time we hit Louisville, unfotunately the only shop that had a tire in stock had the Bridgestone so I have a new one.

We spent several days in Gulfport, Ms with our youngest son Jayson and his fiance Julie. Welcome to our family Julie!

From there we rode to Cartersville, Ga to visit my wife's friend Hanna who is also from Korea and they hadn't seen each other in over 20 years! It was great to see them together again!

After leaving there it was off to Tennessee to ride the Cherohala Skyway and to slay the Dragon! It was an absolutely amazing ride and I am definitely a better rider for it.

Now we spend time with people we care about in Louisville before continuing our journey. We've taken alot of pics, but uploading will have to wait as I didn't bring my laptop and these road updates are being done via my phone.

Ride Free!!!!

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day 1

Unpacked after 500 miles on day one. Made it to Mammoth Spring, Arkansas!

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kick the tires and light the fires!

Lets get this party started!

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Almost time...................

It's so close I can taste it!! On June 1st my wife and I are heading out for our 1st vacation ever! We've taken extended weekends and such, but we never really had a real vacation in 24 years! So on June 1st we're loading up on the Drifter and hittin' the road for 20 days! The route is planned, the maps are ready(paper maps, no GPS here, lol!) the Drifter is ready and we are ready to go!! 11 states, just over 2500 miles, the Cherohala Skyway, the Dragon, meeting up with some old friends along the way, and spending some time with our youngest son who's stationed in Gulfport, Ms, with the Navy. No laptop on this trip, however we will have our cell phones, just in case. I'll update occasionally with my Android, but don't expect a good trip report till the end of the month!

An addition to the stable...and one less.....

After putting some 2 up miles on my '06 sporty, my wife and I decided it was time to get something geared more for touring, so the next some haggling was done, a deal was struck, and I brought home a very nice '02 Kawasaki Drifter! Now most are aware, the Drifter is Maw Kaw's copy/tribute, whatever you want to call it, of an Indian Chief. I call it one of the most comfortable bikes I've ever ridden!

1500cc's, more than enough power, air shocks, Vance and Hines Longshots, and the most comfortable seat I've ever ridden in, the Corbin Dual Tourer. This baby was built for putting on miles and that's what we intend to do! I don't have pics of my latest additions to it yet, but they'll be coming. I added a 22" SlipStream shield, a luggage rack and some more luggage. I can't wait to get some serious seat time on this!!

Now for the one less............

After some haggling, a deal was struck, and my oldest son, James, rode his 1st Harley home yesterday! Yup, he bought my '76 HD XLH1000!

Enjoy the wind Jimmy!

Now with it being a holiday weekend we didn't work today, so yesterday me, my wife, Jimmy, and one of my best friends for the last 18 years, Bill, rode to Jimmy's apartment and hung out there for the night. One of the most memorable rides for as it was Jimmy's first road trip on his 1st Harley and Bill's 1st road trip on his 1st Harley and the 1st time the 3 of had a chance to put on some good miles together, couldn't have asked for a better weekend! Of course we had to break in Jimmy's newly rented garage properly, lol!

The Drifter nestled amongst the Harley's-

Good looking garage Jimmy!

Bill's a little camera shy so I snuck this of him on his new to him '88 FXRS_

Other than the 30mph Kansas wind, it was a great weekend of riding!!!

Catching up!

It's been a while since I've updated so here ya go, lol!

A couple weeks ago my good friend Frosty and I hooked up and went to Marquette Kansas for the Thunder on the Smoky rally. It's main purpose is to help raise money for the  Kansas Motorcycle Museum in Marquette. There was a great turn out for the rally and the bike show in the park brought in some very cool scoots!

A very good turnout for the rally.

A couple shots of the ride home.

Another cool thing they had going on at the rally was a trials bike demonstration. The balance these guys have is unreal!

Helmets........

This isn't a rant about pros and cons of helmets. I live in a state that has chosen to give us the freedom to choose (as it should be) and even though I choose not to more often than not (hey, I never said I was a genius, lol!), I have a small collection of helmets. I don't collect them, I've just gotten a few over the last couple years and I can't throw them away as I do travel to helmet mandatory states.

After going back and forth between full face, modular, and half helmets, I was looking for something different. Today I stopped by a local indy shop, California Phil's , and I found one I wanted and ended up bringing it home. It a Bell Custom 500, 3/4 orange flake helmet.

In case of rain I had to get a shield too!

The weather is looking decent for a ride tomorrow, we'll see how I like it.

It's about time!!

I haven't been much for words recently, but I've been getting some miles on here and this year. The weather in Kansas is a fickle thing and the nice riding days have been few and far between.  Other than the wind, yesterday was one of the best days yet, sunny and 80*, time for some miles!!

cassoday

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breakfast stop

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