Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Google FastFlip and the iPad
One of the great things about the iPad is how beautiful it displays magazine/newspaper type screens. This is best illustrated by the USA Today app and the NY Times app. People are very impressed when the see these images on the IPad. As a diehard iPhone user and now iPad user I have to admit it is much nicer on the iPad.
Unfortunately these two apps are a couple of the limited offerings at this time. Worse yet is that other iPad magazines want to charge you a subscription fee. Most of this content is available free on normal web pages. These web pages display well and are even more usable on the iPad versus a normal computer web browser.
Enter Fastflip from Google Labs With this web app you can easy view all the web pages of several online web sites. As an example you can see all the pages of Macworld online magazine. The fast flip view really illustrates how the iPad shines. This makes it very easy to browse many pages to find articles of interest to you. Then you can red them straight out of a Fastflip or click into the normal web page.
Congratulations to google labs for this innovation.
Unfortunately these two apps are a couple of the limited offerings at this time. Worse yet is that other iPad magazines want to charge you a subscription fee. Most of this content is available free on normal web pages. These web pages display well and are even more usable on the iPad versus a normal computer web browser.
Enter Fastflip from Google Labs With this web app you can easy view all the web pages of several online web sites. As an example you can see all the pages of Macworld online magazine. The fast flip view really illustrates how the iPad shines. This makes it very easy to browse many pages to find articles of interest to you. Then you can red them straight out of a Fastflip or click into the normal web page.
Congratulations to google labs for this innovation.
Sunday, April 04, 2010
Customize you iPad wallpaper.
1. Find a web page with the image you want on it.
2. Take a snapshot of the web page. (Hold down the home key and then press the on/off button. This will save an image of your web page to you photos on the iPad.) Remember that you can size the web view in safari to try to get the image the size you want. See the next step to clean up.
3. Use the free Photoshop app (iPhone version, but it works on the iPad) to crop your picture. Don't forget to save it.
4. Go into the Settings app. Set your wallpaper. You can set the lock screen, home screen, or both.
Enjoy your new image!
2. Take a snapshot of the web page. (Hold down the home key and then press the on/off button. This will save an image of your web page to you photos on the iPad.) Remember that you can size the web view in safari to try to get the image the size you want. See the next step to clean up.
3. Use the free Photoshop app (iPhone version, but it works on the iPad) to crop your picture. Don't forget to save it.
4. Go into the Settings app. Set your wallpaper. You can set the lock screen, home screen, or both.
Enjoy your new image!
IPad
Got my new iPad. So far I like it a lot!
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Automating alarm to play iTunes Music
I was talking to my buddy Justin yesterday. During the conversation a Mac application that allows you to set an alarm and play music from iTunes came up. I was sort of amazed that there is "for purchase" application out to do such a simple task. My thought was that this could be easily done for free on the Mac. My guess was that it would take less than 5 minutes to create something to do this function (either with Automator or Applescript). Well, it is just that easy to do with Automator and iCal. Here are the steps.
1. Start up Automator. Choose "Custom" workflow.
2. Select "Music" in the left hand pane.
3. Set "Get Specified iTunes Items" as you first workflow item.
a. Drag "Get Specified iTunes Items" into the right pane.
b. Click the "add" button and select your desired playlist.
4. Set "Play iTunes Playlist" as your next workflow item.
a. Drag "Play iTunes Playlist" to the right pane.
5. Save you automator workflow as a plug-in.
a. Select menu File->Save as Plug-in.
b. Give you plug in a name. Example "Play xxx Playlist"
c. Select "iCal Alarm" in the "Plug-in for" dropdown.
d. Select the "Save" button.
6. This will automatically start up iCal and make an event in the current day. Simply set the "from" time to your desire alarm time.
For future music alarms you can either change the date/time of the event you use or create a new event.
If you create a new event:
1. Create a new iCal event as normal.
2. Set the "Alarm" type to "open file"
3. In the field right under open file set your file to "Play xxx Playlist.app" (or whatever you named it).
a. Your automator app will be stored in your user folder under Library/Workflows/Applications/iCal/ .
Try it. While the instructions sound like more, this is a very easy to do automator script.
1. Start up Automator. Choose "Custom" workflow.
2. Select "Music" in the left hand pane.
3. Set "Get Specified iTunes Items" as you first workflow item.
a. Drag "Get Specified iTunes Items" into the right pane.
b. Click the "add" button and select your desired playlist.
4. Set "Play iTunes Playlist" as your next workflow item.
a. Drag "Play iTunes Playlist" to the right pane.
5. Save you automator workflow as a plug-in.
a. Select menu File->Save as Plug-in.
b. Give you plug in a name. Example "Play xxx Playlist"
c. Select "iCal Alarm" in the "Plug-in for" dropdown.
d. Select the "Save" button.
6. This will automatically start up iCal and make an event in the current day. Simply set the "from" time to your desire alarm time.
For future music alarms you can either change the date/time of the event you use or create a new event.
If you create a new event:
1. Create a new iCal event as normal.
2. Set the "Alarm" type to "open file"
3. In the field right under open file set your file to "Play xxx Playlist.app" (or whatever you named it).
a. Your automator app will be stored in your user folder under Library/Workflows/Applications/iCal/ .
Try it. While the instructions sound like more, this is a very easy to do automator script.
MacBook Air and Leopard Upgrade
I was sort of disappointed with the announcement of the new Apple MacBook Air. As I have commented on I have been waiting for a new Mac laptop. My hope was that it would be a smaller, cooler, but still powerful MacBook Pro type machine. Something like the power and features of a MacBook Pro but the size of a MacBook and with an aluminum case (instead of plastic).
Well, the MacBook Air is a very cool machine. But some of the specs may leave something to be desired in a "pro" level machine. For me this includes: Non-removable battery, small hard drive, and the need for an external DVD drive.
I have waited and not upgrades my Titanium PowerBook (TiBook) because I expected to upgrade my Mac OS with the purchase of a new machine While my TiBook has performed admirably it became a problem because I used Panther and had not even upgraded to Leopard. Finally tired of waiting, I upgraded my TiBook to Leopard late last week. So far my TiBook has continued to run great and perform well. The upgrade takes a little while to run, but is very smooth. The biggest problem I had was the need to set up my printers again.
So in the end, I am happy that I have upgraded my TiBook to Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard)
Well, the MacBook Air is a very cool machine. But some of the specs may leave something to be desired in a "pro" level machine. For me this includes: Non-removable battery, small hard drive, and the need for an external DVD drive.
I have waited and not upgrades my Titanium PowerBook (TiBook) because I expected to upgrade my Mac OS with the purchase of a new machine While my TiBook has performed admirably it became a problem because I used Panther and had not even upgraded to Leopard. Finally tired of waiting, I upgraded my TiBook to Leopard late last week. So far my TiBook has continued to run great and perform well. The upgrade takes a little while to run, but is very smooth. The biggest problem I had was the need to set up my printers again.
So in the end, I am happy that I have upgraded my TiBook to Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard)
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
iTouch: iMiss!
I stopped by the local Apple store to check out the new iTouch. Probably everyone knows that the iTouch is one of the recently released iPod units from Apple. Initially the iTouch was thought to be basically a iPhone without the phone capabilities.
A lot of reviews have highlighted some of the major differences between the iPhone and the iTouch. These included not including cellular capability (obviously), no bluetooth in iTouch, and lack of some applications on the iTouch, and possibly screen differences.
The iTouch has a very nice form factor in being slightly smaller than the iPhone as well as thinner. The look and feel is very similar to the iPhone with the same touch screen and finger gestures.
One significant comment I have read on the internet is how the iPhone (as well as iTouch) is really closing in on being the ideal personal digital assistant (PDA). This is the world the Palm handhelds held superiority for many years. Palm lead diminished drastically with the convergence of cell phones and handhelds. More importantly I believe that Palm severely mismanaged their market lead over the past many years. But that is a subject for another post.
Imagine my surprise when I find out that the the calendar application on the new iTouch is read-only. Entries can only be made on your Mac or PC and later synchronized. To me this alone invalidates the iTouch as a PDA. By the way, the calendar application on the iPhone allows entry of new items. One can only imagine why Apple chose to have this limitation on the iTouch.
A reason for my visiting the Apple store was to validate whether the iTouch would be one of my purchases when I upgrade PowerBooks when the newest Mac operating system version, Leopard, is eventually released. I am lukewarm on the iPhone because of the requirement of cellular service with ATT. With my findings I am sure that an iTouch will not be on my shopping list. Too bad.
A lot of reviews have highlighted some of the major differences between the iPhone and the iTouch. These included not including cellular capability (obviously), no bluetooth in iTouch, and lack of some applications on the iTouch, and possibly screen differences.
The iTouch has a very nice form factor in being slightly smaller than the iPhone as well as thinner. The look and feel is very similar to the iPhone with the same touch screen and finger gestures.
One significant comment I have read on the internet is how the iPhone (as well as iTouch) is really closing in on being the ideal personal digital assistant (PDA). This is the world the Palm handhelds held superiority for many years. Palm lead diminished drastically with the convergence of cell phones and handhelds. More importantly I believe that Palm severely mismanaged their market lead over the past many years. But that is a subject for another post.
Imagine my surprise when I find out that the the calendar application on the new iTouch is read-only. Entries can only be made on your Mac or PC and later synchronized. To me this alone invalidates the iTouch as a PDA. By the way, the calendar application on the iPhone allows entry of new items. One can only imagine why Apple chose to have this limitation on the iTouch.
A reason for my visiting the Apple store was to validate whether the iTouch would be one of my purchases when I upgrade PowerBooks when the newest Mac operating system version, Leopard, is eventually released. I am lukewarm on the iPhone because of the requirement of cellular service with ATT. With my findings I am sure that an iTouch will not be on my shopping list. Too bad.
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Still Running: 20 Years Later
After my afternoon with my daughter Sophie, I decided to do a running workout by running on the local (to Lawrence, KS) high school running track. This brought back memories of when I used to workout with my good friend, Wade M., in San Antonio, TX. At the time, 20 years ago, we were both in our early 20’s and regularly did running workouts on a local high school track and football fields.
As many may know, I am currently a big fan of multi-sport training. By this I mean workouts in a variety of sports or fitness activities. These can vary as far as swimming, running, climbing, weight-lifting, kayaking, yoga, of course biking, etc. I contrast this to “cross-training” which I define as regularly training in more than one sport.
Back in the day working out with Wade, our running workouts included many different variations. Wade had played some college football and was an ex-high school football star. Who from Texas didn’t play football? Accordingly our workouts included sprints, intervals, running backwards, running sideways, bleacher climbs, as well as some others. Thank god back then they didn’t have those little parachute things you see sports stars running with today!
Why I probably have a been on a track a few times since then, I really can’t recall them. Today’s run was good. Besides the less-jarring impact of the composite track, it is much more fun to run some of these variations on the track. I did intervals, backwards, and sideways running, on my 4.5 mile workout. I may include this track run more often.
If you haven’t visited the running track at your local high-school lately, I recommend you do. This is a great way to add an new twist to your runs.
As many may know, I am currently a big fan of multi-sport training. By this I mean workouts in a variety of sports or fitness activities. These can vary as far as swimming, running, climbing, weight-lifting, kayaking, yoga, of course biking, etc. I contrast this to “cross-training” which I define as regularly training in more than one sport.
Back in the day working out with Wade, our running workouts included many different variations. Wade had played some college football and was an ex-high school football star. Who from Texas didn’t play football? Accordingly our workouts included sprints, intervals, running backwards, running sideways, bleacher climbs, as well as some others. Thank god back then they didn’t have those little parachute things you see sports stars running with today!
Why I probably have a been on a track a few times since then, I really can’t recall them. Today’s run was good. Besides the less-jarring impact of the composite track, it is much more fun to run some of these variations on the track. I did intervals, backwards, and sideways running, on my 4.5 mile workout. I may include this track run more often.
If you haven’t visited the running track at your local high-school lately, I recommend you do. This is a great way to add an new twist to your runs.
IPod Paradigm Shift Revisited - 80GB and 160GB iPods
I was talking to a friend yesterday who initially could not understand why anyone would want one of the 80GB or 160GB iPods announced by Apple yesterday. After a brief discussion I convinced him that these would be great and loved by many people.
I have commented previously about the “iPod paradigm shift” which is based on carrying all of your music with you versus just part of your collection. I currently have a 20GB iPod which is full and my music collection is much larger. (I don’t have a new iPod because I am waiting to purchase at least one new larger one when I get a new MacBook to replace my much-loved PowerBook which does not have USB 2.0).
An example of this paradigm shift in action can be illustrated by my experience today. In my wonderful afternoon with my young daughter, Sophie, we were listening to my 20GB iPod while we were driving. At the time we were listening to an “on-the-go” playlist created with Sophie’s three current favorite songs: “Last Dollar (Fly Away)” by Tim McGraw, “The Sweet Escape” by Gwen Stefani, and “Yellow Submarine” by the Beatles. By the way, Sophie asked about Yellow Submarine out of the blue last week. Of course, being a classic Beatles song, I had it on my iPod. Well the specific experience during the drive was when I asked Sophie if she would like to listen to some other Beatles songs since she liked Yellow Submarine so much. And of course this was easily accomplished because I have a large selection of Beatles songs on my iPod (as well as hundreds of other artists). To top it off, Sophie, 6-years old, was easily able to navigate the iPod with some simple directions from me to set it all up.
As a final note, I admit that I have really not grown up and still love to listen to loud music. Later in the evening when I was driving home after my day with Sophie, I was jamming to The Tragically Hip in my car. This band, far different than the Beatles, was also on my beloved iPod.
I have commented previously about the “iPod paradigm shift” which is based on carrying all of your music with you versus just part of your collection. I currently have a 20GB iPod which is full and my music collection is much larger. (I don’t have a new iPod because I am waiting to purchase at least one new larger one when I get a new MacBook to replace my much-loved PowerBook which does not have USB 2.0).
An example of this paradigm shift in action can be illustrated by my experience today. In my wonderful afternoon with my young daughter, Sophie, we were listening to my 20GB iPod while we were driving. At the time we were listening to an “on-the-go” playlist created with Sophie’s three current favorite songs: “Last Dollar (Fly Away)” by Tim McGraw, “The Sweet Escape” by Gwen Stefani, and “Yellow Submarine” by the Beatles. By the way, Sophie asked about Yellow Submarine out of the blue last week. Of course, being a classic Beatles song, I had it on my iPod. Well the specific experience during the drive was when I asked Sophie if she would like to listen to some other Beatles songs since she liked Yellow Submarine so much. And of course this was easily accomplished because I have a large selection of Beatles songs on my iPod (as well as hundreds of other artists). To top it off, Sophie, 6-years old, was easily able to navigate the iPod with some simple directions from me to set it all up.
As a final note, I admit that I have really not grown up and still love to listen to loud music. Later in the evening when I was driving home after my day with Sophie, I was jamming to The Tragically Hip in my car. This band, far different than the Beatles, was also on my beloved iPod.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Colorado Road Trip - Day 4
The final day (Tuesday) of this trip began when I woke up shortly before 6:00 am (MST). I had gotten to bed very early and wanted to get a relatively early start on my 700 mile trip home.
As it happens, I awoke to a beautiful mountain morning that appeared that it would be much better (no/less rain) than the previous day. I was briefly tempted to stay an additional day. But, I had a commitment for Wednesday evening and generally give myself one day in case of travel problems before my all-important Thursdays with my daughter. So I packed my tent and was off just before 6:30 am. I could have left slightly earlier but I packed up camp slowly in deference to the other campers in the campground.
It looked like it was going to be a beautiful day in the mountains.
My first plan was to ride down the mountain and stop for breakfast at the Egg and I. I really enjoy this place and knew it would be a good start to my day’s ride. The breakfast and service did not disappoint me. I then stopped at the Estes Park visitor center to use the restroom facilities (mainly to change from my warmer mountain clothes to cooler gear for the ride back to Kansas). I ended up leaving Estes Park around 8:00 am (9:00 am CST).
The morning ride eastward on 34 was nice and relaxing. Left of my Day 3 report was that I never really felt in the “groove” riding the previous day. The roads were no more technical or curvy than I have done many times in the past. Proof that wisdom is coming with my age is that I did not overdo it. For example, midway in that ride I saw two other sportsbike riders who turned onto the canyon road in front of me. Normally I could easily keep up with them and might have just to “fly the Ducati flag”. But on that day, I just chose to ride at a slightly more moderate pace. Back to the current day (4). After navigating some freshly laid gravel leading out of Estes Park, I continued on Hwy 34. There was relatively little traffic. But there was still highway patrol on the highway. Fortunately I did not make any of their acquaintances! This in conjunction with my previous days experience lead me to believe that Colorado generally patrols and enforces the speed limit rather strictly. I notice more police patrolling the back roads and canyon roads then other areas I have visited.
My route was to follow Hwy 34 all the way across Colorado to the Kansas Border. A little over 100 miles from my start I experienced some problems with my Garmin GPS unit. Based on the symptoms, I was pretty sure that I had a loose connection in the 12v wiring to the motorcycle. This was not an immediate problem as the unit just goes into battery mode (it has a rechargeable battery). But, as much as I just like my GPS, I really did not want to rely on battery power. I have never learned how long it can run in battery mode. Since I had many hours to travel I decided to stop at a gas station and fix my wiring. I rely on my GPS for my actual speed (the motorcycle speedometer is highly inaccurate), trip information as average speed and time moving, directions, and of course maps. Yes, I could have done without it, but I did not want to. I figured that the fix would take me around 15 minutes. I originally wired all the accessories and am intimately familiar with the wiring. Unfortunately, a motorcycle is a hostile environment, especially with all the vibrations so it is impossible to make completely error free wiring. The fix involved removing some of inner dash plastic to reattach the GPS wire to my added fuse block. This involved me removing the bag I had strapped to the seat to get under the seat for my tools. The fix went smoothly and probably took me around 20 minutes. Unfortunately, as I put everything I realized that I could not find my newly purchase (birthday) knife. Both because I did want a misplace knife floating around and sentiment, I removed all the luggage and spent some time finding the knife. I eventually did, but now had spent around 30 minutes on this stop. More on why this was important later. I chose to gas up before I left.
The roads along the plains are mostly straight.
I rode on along the mostly straight and lightly trafficked highway. As I approached Akron, CO I realized that this was the county seat of the area where I got a speeding ticket on my first day of the trip. As there was not much along this highway I was pretty sure I would pass the courthouse. I decide if I saw it I would stop and see if I adjudicate the ticket with the county clerk. As I pulled up to it, I should have known that I was not going to be in luck. The large court center is very modern and stands out in the area. And, unlike many jurisdictions, the county clerk indicated that they make no adjustments to tickets. Bummer. A wasted stop. I got back on my bike and continued on.
Now another item that I may have neglected to mention in earlier posts is that I rely on listening to music on my motorcycle rides. Since my satellite radio unit had been stolen out my car the previous week this meant I was relying on my two iPods (Shuffle and and regular iPod). For long trips my regular, albeit old, iPod is better because it has 20GB of music on it. Unfortunately the battery only lasts about two hours. But, I have a 12v cigarette-lighter type wiring in my tank bag and a 12v AC adapter for my iPod. Frustratingly, my 20GB iPod acts weird when trying to play it and charge it with the adapter the same time. I found a workaround by just charging the iPod and then unplugging the AC adapter when listening to me. This is where the iPod Shuffle came in handy. Every two hours or so, I would switch to the iPod shuffle and recharge my 20GB iPod. I will be happy when I upgrade to a newer iPod and hope this problem goes away. The lesson for me is to take multiple sources of music on long motorcycle trips.
My route back home was not the same as my trip out as I was leaving from farther north in Colorado. From Hwy 34 I cut over to Hwy 35 on Hwy 27. By now I was starting to sweat gas. Just another step in my adventure.
Now, motorcycling is different than traveling a car with respect to fuel range. While motorcycles generally get much better mileage (I was averaging almost 42 mpg), they have very small tanks. Despite, Ducati’s claim that my model has a 5.5 gallon tank, I generally only get around 4.8 gallons in when the tank seems mostly dry. Given that I have run out of gas on the highway (once) I am not eager to repeat the experience. But, this poses a quandary. First, in some instances my gas mileage can fall to as low as 32 mpg. This is probably related to high average speed and/or racing the engine. But you never know, and 32 times 4.8 (153) is much different than 42 times 4.8 (201). Ideally I don’t want to stop too often, like every 100 miles. To my benefit my bike has a very accurate low-fuel light. It comes on when I have almost exactly one gallon left (based on a 4.8 gallon fill). I can generally count on getting at least 35 miles from that point no matter what my total mileage up to that point is.
On this trip, that meant around 150 miles in, I would start looking for gas stations. But on these back roads they don’t necessarily come as often as on the interstate. Fortunate for me I found one in time at St. Francis, KS. By now I was hungry but I did not see any suitable place to eat so I continued on after the quick gas stop. I continue past a couple of dinky towns and ended up stoppin at the same restaurant, Suzy Q’s, that I did on the first day of my trip. This time, I chose a hamburger which was at least better than the previous visit. My lunch stop lasted about 20 minutes.
By now it was threatening rain and I was pretty sure that I was going to get rained on. I rode Hwy 34 to Phillipsburg then cut south on Hwy 183 to Plainville. Now, here I made a mistake (some people never learn). I needed gas again, but did not see any gas stations on my route. So I choose to ride on. In Plainville I turned onto Hwy 18. The GPS showed a few towns along the way. But unfortunately these were very small towns and generally off the highway on county roads. No gas stations on the road. By now it was very, very, windy and raining hard. I took a chance and got off the road at Paradise. No gas stations, so I continued on. I now came on the turn to Russell, KS. This was about 18 miles off my intended route, but I knew the town would have gas and was on I-70. I made it into town as the rain stopped and got gas.
Now, I was basically right next to I-70 so it did not make sense for me to ride back north (18 miles) to continue along my original route on Hwy 18. This was a real bummer as this was probably the best part of the ride across Kansas. But, by now, I was getting a little worried about my arrival time at home. My GPS, which is generally very accurate in this regard, told me it would be around 9:30 pm (CST) when I got home. While I don’t mind riding at night, in the dark, I generally don’t want to be on the freeway or off my known roads when I do this. I surely did not want to be on Interstate 70. So I took off eastward on I-70. This was just as bad as I imagined it would be. There was tons of traffic, much of it trucks. I spotted, as well as my radar-detector did, many, many police radar cars. And to top it off there was a tremendous wind pushing from the south against my bike.
And here is a little rant. Why is it that interstate truckers drive so aggressively and horrible. Many drove nose-to-tail with the tractor trailer in front of them. This made passing even with the extra lane a longer affair. Then, many would just drive side-by-side with another truck blocking the entire highway. But the worst was the ones that would speed up just to tailgate me after I passed them and assumed a speed higher than they were originally traveling at. I try to be considerate of other motorist, but this was inexplicable.
At any rate, I continued on. I am guessing it was around 7:30pm when I entered I-70 at Russell, KS. By 8:10 pm the sun had pretty much gone all the way down. Around halfway to Topeka (from Russell) at least the traffic has subsides somewhat. As I neared Topeka, KS I needed to stop for gas again. Based on the low-light indicator that came on earlier, I was comfortable that I would make the eastern edge of Topeka but did not think I would make it past. I stopped for gas at 176 miles. I made it a very quick stop because I was ready to get off the highway. The rest of the trip along the Kansas Turnpike (still I-70) and the roads in Kansas City was a little better as I am pretty familiar with all these road. The busy turnpike traffic offered no relaxation though.
Safely arrived at my favorite Chipotle restaurant.
I pulled into my favorite Chipotle restaurant at 9:30 pm after riding 707 miles that day. After a short respite I continued the five miles to my house and arrived safely after and adventurous but fun day of riding.
As it happens, I awoke to a beautiful mountain morning that appeared that it would be much better (no/less rain) than the previous day. I was briefly tempted to stay an additional day. But, I had a commitment for Wednesday evening and generally give myself one day in case of travel problems before my all-important Thursdays with my daughter. So I packed my tent and was off just before 6:30 am. I could have left slightly earlier but I packed up camp slowly in deference to the other campers in the campground.
It looked like it was going to be a beautiful day in the mountains.
My first plan was to ride down the mountain and stop for breakfast at the Egg and I. I really enjoy this place and knew it would be a good start to my day’s ride. The breakfast and service did not disappoint me. I then stopped at the Estes Park visitor center to use the restroom facilities (mainly to change from my warmer mountain clothes to cooler gear for the ride back to Kansas). I ended up leaving Estes Park around 8:00 am (9:00 am CST).
The morning ride eastward on 34 was nice and relaxing. Left of my Day 3 report was that I never really felt in the “groove” riding the previous day. The roads were no more technical or curvy than I have done many times in the past. Proof that wisdom is coming with my age is that I did not overdo it. For example, midway in that ride I saw two other sportsbike riders who turned onto the canyon road in front of me. Normally I could easily keep up with them and might have just to “fly the Ducati flag”. But on that day, I just chose to ride at a slightly more moderate pace. Back to the current day (4). After navigating some freshly laid gravel leading out of Estes Park, I continued on Hwy 34. There was relatively little traffic. But there was still highway patrol on the highway. Fortunately I did not make any of their acquaintances! This in conjunction with my previous days experience lead me to believe that Colorado generally patrols and enforces the speed limit rather strictly. I notice more police patrolling the back roads and canyon roads then other areas I have visited.
My route was to follow Hwy 34 all the way across Colorado to the Kansas Border. A little over 100 miles from my start I experienced some problems with my Garmin GPS unit. Based on the symptoms, I was pretty sure that I had a loose connection in the 12v wiring to the motorcycle. This was not an immediate problem as the unit just goes into battery mode (it has a rechargeable battery). But, as much as I just like my GPS, I really did not want to rely on battery power. I have never learned how long it can run in battery mode. Since I had many hours to travel I decided to stop at a gas station and fix my wiring. I rely on my GPS for my actual speed (the motorcycle speedometer is highly inaccurate), trip information as average speed and time moving, directions, and of course maps. Yes, I could have done without it, but I did not want to. I figured that the fix would take me around 15 minutes. I originally wired all the accessories and am intimately familiar with the wiring. Unfortunately, a motorcycle is a hostile environment, especially with all the vibrations so it is impossible to make completely error free wiring. The fix involved removing some of inner dash plastic to reattach the GPS wire to my added fuse block. This involved me removing the bag I had strapped to the seat to get under the seat for my tools. The fix went smoothly and probably took me around 20 minutes. Unfortunately, as I put everything I realized that I could not find my newly purchase (birthday) knife. Both because I did want a misplace knife floating around and sentiment, I removed all the luggage and spent some time finding the knife. I eventually did, but now had spent around 30 minutes on this stop. More on why this was important later. I chose to gas up before I left.
The roads along the plains are mostly straight.
I rode on along the mostly straight and lightly trafficked highway. As I approached Akron, CO I realized that this was the county seat of the area where I got a speeding ticket on my first day of the trip. As there was not much along this highway I was pretty sure I would pass the courthouse. I decide if I saw it I would stop and see if I adjudicate the ticket with the county clerk. As I pulled up to it, I should have known that I was not going to be in luck. The large court center is very modern and stands out in the area. And, unlike many jurisdictions, the county clerk indicated that they make no adjustments to tickets. Bummer. A wasted stop. I got back on my bike and continued on.
Now another item that I may have neglected to mention in earlier posts is that I rely on listening to music on my motorcycle rides. Since my satellite radio unit had been stolen out my car the previous week this meant I was relying on my two iPods (Shuffle and and regular iPod). For long trips my regular, albeit old, iPod is better because it has 20GB of music on it. Unfortunately the battery only lasts about two hours. But, I have a 12v cigarette-lighter type wiring in my tank bag and a 12v AC adapter for my iPod. Frustratingly, my 20GB iPod acts weird when trying to play it and charge it with the adapter the same time. I found a workaround by just charging the iPod and then unplugging the AC adapter when listening to me. This is where the iPod Shuffle came in handy. Every two hours or so, I would switch to the iPod shuffle and recharge my 20GB iPod. I will be happy when I upgrade to a newer iPod and hope this problem goes away. The lesson for me is to take multiple sources of music on long motorcycle trips.
My route back home was not the same as my trip out as I was leaving from farther north in Colorado. From Hwy 34 I cut over to Hwy 35 on Hwy 27. By now I was starting to sweat gas. Just another step in my adventure.
Now, motorcycling is different than traveling a car with respect to fuel range. While motorcycles generally get much better mileage (I was averaging almost 42 mpg), they have very small tanks. Despite, Ducati’s claim that my model has a 5.5 gallon tank, I generally only get around 4.8 gallons in when the tank seems mostly dry. Given that I have run out of gas on the highway (once) I am not eager to repeat the experience. But, this poses a quandary. First, in some instances my gas mileage can fall to as low as 32 mpg. This is probably related to high average speed and/or racing the engine. But you never know, and 32 times 4.8 (153) is much different than 42 times 4.8 (201). Ideally I don’t want to stop too often, like every 100 miles. To my benefit my bike has a very accurate low-fuel light. It comes on when I have almost exactly one gallon left (based on a 4.8 gallon fill). I can generally count on getting at least 35 miles from that point no matter what my total mileage up to that point is.
On this trip, that meant around 150 miles in, I would start looking for gas stations. But on these back roads they don’t necessarily come as often as on the interstate. Fortunate for me I found one in time at St. Francis, KS. By now I was hungry but I did not see any suitable place to eat so I continued on after the quick gas stop. I continue past a couple of dinky towns and ended up stoppin at the same restaurant, Suzy Q’s, that I did on the first day of my trip. This time, I chose a hamburger which was at least better than the previous visit. My lunch stop lasted about 20 minutes.
By now it was threatening rain and I was pretty sure that I was going to get rained on. I rode Hwy 34 to Phillipsburg then cut south on Hwy 183 to Plainville. Now, here I made a mistake (some people never learn). I needed gas again, but did not see any gas stations on my route. So I choose to ride on. In Plainville I turned onto Hwy 18. The GPS showed a few towns along the way. But unfortunately these were very small towns and generally off the highway on county roads. No gas stations on the road. By now it was very, very, windy and raining hard. I took a chance and got off the road at Paradise. No gas stations, so I continued on. I now came on the turn to Russell, KS. This was about 18 miles off my intended route, but I knew the town would have gas and was on I-70. I made it into town as the rain stopped and got gas.
Now, I was basically right next to I-70 so it did not make sense for me to ride back north (18 miles) to continue along my original route on Hwy 18. This was a real bummer as this was probably the best part of the ride across Kansas. But, by now, I was getting a little worried about my arrival time at home. My GPS, which is generally very accurate in this regard, told me it would be around 9:30 pm (CST) when I got home. While I don’t mind riding at night, in the dark, I generally don’t want to be on the freeway or off my known roads when I do this. I surely did not want to be on Interstate 70. So I took off eastward on I-70. This was just as bad as I imagined it would be. There was tons of traffic, much of it trucks. I spotted, as well as my radar-detector did, many, many police radar cars. And to top it off there was a tremendous wind pushing from the south against my bike.
And here is a little rant. Why is it that interstate truckers drive so aggressively and horrible. Many drove nose-to-tail with the tractor trailer in front of them. This made passing even with the extra lane a longer affair. Then, many would just drive side-by-side with another truck blocking the entire highway. But the worst was the ones that would speed up just to tailgate me after I passed them and assumed a speed higher than they were originally traveling at. I try to be considerate of other motorist, but this was inexplicable.
At any rate, I continued on. I am guessing it was around 7:30pm when I entered I-70 at Russell, KS. By 8:10 pm the sun had pretty much gone all the way down. Around halfway to Topeka (from Russell) at least the traffic has subsides somewhat. As I neared Topeka, KS I needed to stop for gas again. Based on the low-light indicator that came on earlier, I was comfortable that I would make the eastern edge of Topeka but did not think I would make it past. I stopped for gas at 176 miles. I made it a very quick stop because I was ready to get off the highway. The rest of the trip along the Kansas Turnpike (still I-70) and the roads in Kansas City was a little better as I am pretty familiar with all these road. The busy turnpike traffic offered no relaxation though.
Safely arrived at my favorite Chipotle restaurant.
I pulled into my favorite Chipotle restaurant at 9:30 pm after riding 707 miles that day. After a short respite I continued the five miles to my house and arrived safely after and adventurous but fun day of riding.
Monday, September 03, 2007
Colorado Road Trip - Day 3
Day 3 (Monday) began with me retrieving my bike from the Bell's accommodating neighbor, Marty. I then thanked the extremely gracious Bell family for providing me a very enjoyable stay.
I left the Bell's home in Boulder around 9:00 am after once again loaded up my bike with all my gear. The previous evening I had googled a few possible motorcycle routes but did not set a specific route. My general plan was ride from Boulder to Estes Park, CO then up the mountains to Grand Lake. I would then return to camp in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP). I also hoped to get in a mountain hike.
I pretty much thought that I would have no problems following the couple of highways along the route. Which brings up my first comment no my Garmin Quest GPS. I really love my GPS unit and have a different mindset because of it. Specifically, I rely on it to find my way to different locations. Second, I generally enjoy that letting the GPS calculate a route will sometimes take me on roads I might not have picked in the first place.
Well my planned route was to follow Hwy 287 north through Longmont and then turn onto Hwy 34 east into Estes Park. My initial goal was to get to Estes Park and eat breakfast at The Egg and I restaurant. I found this breakfast place with my daughter Sophia on our last visit to RMNP. The Egg and I is a notable breakfast joint in that the food is good and the service is excellent. Driving through Longmont I passed another Egg and I restaurant (which I assumed was related) but chose to continue on to Estes Park. This could have been a mistake as I missed Hwy 34 and continued past on Hwy 287. The reason this happened related to my previous comments on my GPS. Because I rely on the GPS, I generally just wait to see major highways on the GPS unit. This frees me up to enjoy riding and avoid detailed looking at highway signs. In this case it was couple with only a brief look a the planned route and no printed route map.
My missed turn, turned out to be fortuitiuos as I continued on to CR-14 and was able to ride though part Poudre Canyon. Estes Park, Grand Lake, and Poudre Canyon form a big loop that was mentioned in a few of the recommended motorcycle routes I had googled the previous evening. I had decided not to do this long loop as I really wanted some off the bike mountain time to go along with my riding and also because I had a very long planned ride the following day. Once on CR-14 I let the GPS unit calculate my route to the Estes Park. This routed me along the curvy, motorcycle appropriate CR-27. CR-14 and CR-27 were great motorcycle roads.
Road in Poudre Canyon
I arrived in Estes Park after 11:00 am with over 100 miles ridden. With the curves on the canyon roads I felt like I got a decent motorcycle road in. As I stopped at the Egg and I, it began to drizzle. The restaurant once again rewarded my good memories with good food and exceptional service. After breakfast, the rain had pretty much stopped. I rode across the street and visited the Estes Park vistor center. The visitor center is exceptional in that it is large, well staffed with friendly employees, and host inviting and clean restrooms.
After leaving the Estes Park visitor center, I rode up to Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) and secured a camp site at Glacier Basin campsite. This was fortunate as the skies were very cloudy now and threatening rain. In fact it began to rain pretty hard just as I finished setting up my tent and camp. By now it was 2:00 pm and I hoped the rain would pass, it would dry up, and I could then take my desired hike. I enjoyed reading a book in my tent for a period. Unfortunately, the rain continued for over two hours.
Clouds in the mountains of RMNP
As it closed up to 5:00pm I realized while the rain had died down, it was not going to stop and definitely not dry up for a mountain hike. I choose to saddle up and ride down to Estes Park for dinner. As an aside, on my motorcycle camping adventures I generally eat in town rather than carry and prepare food at the campsite. The ride down the mountain on the very wet roads just added to my adventure.
In Estes Park I choose to eat at at Penelope's World Famous Burgers. I had found Penelope's in a printed restaurant guide I had picked up earlier. It sounded good as it homemade food. Unfortunately, the food was only good not great. I enjoyed a nice stroll around town after dinner. This was not hectic as the summer crowds were gone on this Monday evening. I believe the fact that school had started make up for a good time for a visit.
Estes Park was uncrowded.
I returned to my camp site in the park on somewhat drier roads. On reaching my campsite I found that a young couple setting up camp as one of my neighbors. While I choose not to bother them by interrupting them, I experienced a pleasant sense of nostalgia as I imagined a newlywed couple starting on new adventures. It reminded me of my first marriage shortly after college. I surmise that the couple was just after college age as the college sessions had just started and the couple was obviously young.
Some of the beautiful scenery in RMNP.
Wet mountain roads only added to the adventure!
As it was getting later, yet not dark, but still pretty wet out, i had to forego my mountain hike. After enjoying the mountain setting, I retired to the tent for some more reading and early bedtime.
Total riding: 150 miles.
I left the Bell's home in Boulder around 9:00 am after once again loaded up my bike with all my gear. The previous evening I had googled a few possible motorcycle routes but did not set a specific route. My general plan was ride from Boulder to Estes Park, CO then up the mountains to Grand Lake. I would then return to camp in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP). I also hoped to get in a mountain hike.
I pretty much thought that I would have no problems following the couple of highways along the route. Which brings up my first comment no my Garmin Quest GPS. I really love my GPS unit and have a different mindset because of it. Specifically, I rely on it to find my way to different locations. Second, I generally enjoy that letting the GPS calculate a route will sometimes take me on roads I might not have picked in the first place.
Well my planned route was to follow Hwy 287 north through Longmont and then turn onto Hwy 34 east into Estes Park. My initial goal was to get to Estes Park and eat breakfast at The Egg and I restaurant. I found this breakfast place with my daughter Sophia on our last visit to RMNP. The Egg and I is a notable breakfast joint in that the food is good and the service is excellent. Driving through Longmont I passed another Egg and I restaurant (which I assumed was related) but chose to continue on to Estes Park. This could have been a mistake as I missed Hwy 34 and continued past on Hwy 287. The reason this happened related to my previous comments on my GPS. Because I rely on the GPS, I generally just wait to see major highways on the GPS unit. This frees me up to enjoy riding and avoid detailed looking at highway signs. In this case it was couple with only a brief look a the planned route and no printed route map.
My missed turn, turned out to be fortuitiuos as I continued on to CR-14 and was able to ride though part Poudre Canyon. Estes Park, Grand Lake, and Poudre Canyon form a big loop that was mentioned in a few of the recommended motorcycle routes I had googled the previous evening. I had decided not to do this long loop as I really wanted some off the bike mountain time to go along with my riding and also because I had a very long planned ride the following day. Once on CR-14 I let the GPS unit calculate my route to the Estes Park. This routed me along the curvy, motorcycle appropriate CR-27. CR-14 and CR-27 were great motorcycle roads.
Road in Poudre Canyon
I arrived in Estes Park after 11:00 am with over 100 miles ridden. With the curves on the canyon roads I felt like I got a decent motorcycle road in. As I stopped at the Egg and I, it began to drizzle. The restaurant once again rewarded my good memories with good food and exceptional service. After breakfast, the rain had pretty much stopped. I rode across the street and visited the Estes Park vistor center. The visitor center is exceptional in that it is large, well staffed with friendly employees, and host inviting and clean restrooms.
After leaving the Estes Park visitor center, I rode up to Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) and secured a camp site at Glacier Basin campsite. This was fortunate as the skies were very cloudy now and threatening rain. In fact it began to rain pretty hard just as I finished setting up my tent and camp. By now it was 2:00 pm and I hoped the rain would pass, it would dry up, and I could then take my desired hike. I enjoyed reading a book in my tent for a period. Unfortunately, the rain continued for over two hours.
Clouds in the mountains of RMNP
As it closed up to 5:00pm I realized while the rain had died down, it was not going to stop and definitely not dry up for a mountain hike. I choose to saddle up and ride down to Estes Park for dinner. As an aside, on my motorcycle camping adventures I generally eat in town rather than carry and prepare food at the campsite. The ride down the mountain on the very wet roads just added to my adventure.
In Estes Park I choose to eat at at Penelope's World Famous Burgers. I had found Penelope's in a printed restaurant guide I had picked up earlier. It sounded good as it homemade food. Unfortunately, the food was only good not great. I enjoyed a nice stroll around town after dinner. This was not hectic as the summer crowds were gone on this Monday evening. I believe the fact that school had started make up for a good time for a visit.
Estes Park was uncrowded.
I returned to my camp site in the park on somewhat drier roads. On reaching my campsite I found that a young couple setting up camp as one of my neighbors. While I choose not to bother them by interrupting them, I experienced a pleasant sense of nostalgia as I imagined a newlywed couple starting on new adventures. It reminded me of my first marriage shortly after college. I surmise that the couple was just after college age as the college sessions had just started and the couple was obviously young.
Some of the beautiful scenery in RMNP.
Wet mountain roads only added to the adventure!
As it was getting later, yet not dark, but still pretty wet out, i had to forego my mountain hike. After enjoying the mountain setting, I retired to the tent for some more reading and early bedtime.
Total riding: 150 miles.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Colorado Road Trip - Day 2
Day 2 (Sunday) of my trip was completely off the bike and spent with the Bell family. To protect privacy I will use the initials for the Bell family (BB, AB, LB, SB)
The morning started with a run with BB and neighbor, Marty. It was nice that they invited me on there regular run. Even nicer is that they didn't take me downhill and leave me. Just kidding, the run while cut a little short (for them) due to time constraints but was perfect for me.
Later, we ran some shopping errands and had lunch at Pei Wei. Pei Wei was LB's choice and did not disappoint. I have eaten at this chain in three different cities and have had the same good food and experience at each one. It was nice that SB chose to sit by me and allowed me to help him with his chop sticks.
BB is looking into starting cycling for fitness. We went to several bike shops just to price some bikes and get information. As a very avid cyclist, I have travelled to Boulder several times in the past. One of my favorite mail-order catalog bike stores, Excel Sports, is headquartered there. Unfortunately, Excel only sells high-end, "pro", level bikes. These are really not right for BB at this time. I was very disappointed in all the other bike shops we visited. Being my thing, I have visited many bike shops in different cities of the years. Being that Boulder might be considered the "mecca" of cycling I was surprised at the low-level of service in the bike shops we visited. I admit I am spoiled by my local shop, Sunflower Outdoor and Bike in Lawrence, KS, which may be the best bike retailer in the U.S.
My specific problem with the Boulder bike shops were two. First, bike fit is very important. They seemed to give short shift to this (with the exception of Excel Sports). Second, is that none of the bike shops seemed to carry a good selection of road bikes to compare and choose from.
The rest of the day was easy and enjoyably spent playing with kids and generally just chilling out.
In hindsight, an off-motorcycle day or at least a light motorcycle day, in the middle of the short vacation trips (3-4 days) that I like to take may be ideal. One dynamic of motorcycle trips is that naturally a big part of the trip is motorcycle riding. Because of the severe limit in luggage, I am not able to do some of the activities that I enjoy such as biking, kayaking, etc. I note that my other vehicles are SUVs that allow me to take some of my many "toys' for active vacations. While motorcycling is very fun, a break after long travel days can be relaxing.
I finished an enjoyable second day with 0 motorcycle miles.
The morning started with a run with BB and neighbor, Marty. It was nice that they invited me on there regular run. Even nicer is that they didn't take me downhill and leave me. Just kidding, the run while cut a little short (for them) due to time constraints but was perfect for me.
Later, we ran some shopping errands and had lunch at Pei Wei. Pei Wei was LB's choice and did not disappoint. I have eaten at this chain in three different cities and have had the same good food and experience at each one. It was nice that SB chose to sit by me and allowed me to help him with his chop sticks.
BB is looking into starting cycling for fitness. We went to several bike shops just to price some bikes and get information. As a very avid cyclist, I have travelled to Boulder several times in the past. One of my favorite mail-order catalog bike stores, Excel Sports, is headquartered there. Unfortunately, Excel only sells high-end, "pro", level bikes. These are really not right for BB at this time. I was very disappointed in all the other bike shops we visited. Being my thing, I have visited many bike shops in different cities of the years. Being that Boulder might be considered the "mecca" of cycling I was surprised at the low-level of service in the bike shops we visited. I admit I am spoiled by my local shop, Sunflower Outdoor and Bike in Lawrence, KS, which may be the best bike retailer in the U.S.
My specific problem with the Boulder bike shops were two. First, bike fit is very important. They seemed to give short shift to this (with the exception of Excel Sports). Second, is that none of the bike shops seemed to carry a good selection of road bikes to compare and choose from.
The rest of the day was easy and enjoyably spent playing with kids and generally just chilling out.
In hindsight, an off-motorcycle day or at least a light motorcycle day, in the middle of the short vacation trips (3-4 days) that I like to take may be ideal. One dynamic of motorcycle trips is that naturally a big part of the trip is motorcycle riding. Because of the severe limit in luggage, I am not able to do some of the activities that I enjoy such as biking, kayaking, etc. I note that my other vehicles are SUVs that allow me to take some of my many "toys' for active vacations. While motorcycling is very fun, a break after long travel days can be relaxing.
I finished an enjoyable second day with 0 motorcycle miles.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Colorado Road Trip - Day 1
This past weekend (Saturday) I rode my Ducati to Colorado to visit my good friends the Bells. The initial part of the trip was to a suburb near Boulder, CO and later continued on to Rocky Mountain National Park (Estes Park) before returning home.
I would be remiss not to start by saying that I had a wonderful visit and stay with the Bell family. The entire family were welcoming and gracious hosts during my stay.
My trip began with my leaving my home shortly after 8:00am. I am getting superstitious of loading my bike the night before. The last couple of times I have, weather has forced me to cancel my rides. Therefore after waking some time earlier, eating my regular breakfast of oatmeal and grapefruit, I finished packing the bike before leaving.
Earlier I had planned a route that allowed me to avoid as much of Interstate 70 as possible while still affording a relatively straight route to Boulder. This route had me travel on I-70 to just past Junction City, KS. On this Saturday morning the interstate travel was reasonable and not that hectic.
Just past Junction City, KS, I headed over to Hwy 18 to head west. Hwy 18 proved to be the most enjoyable part of my long ride across Kansas. This two-lane highway is sparsely trafficked, well paved and provides some nice views of the western plains.
I should mention that motorcycle travel is much different than automobile travel. First, a sportsbike motorcycle accelerates and stops much quicker than automobiles. Because of this it feels much safer traveling at a higher rate of speed than in an automobile. For me this is a blessing and curse. Personally, I enjoy riding at a speed higher than the posted limit. But, I dislike speeding tickets.
The reason for mentioning the motorcycle speed difference relates to my choice of route. Beside avoiding the huge amount of traffic on I-70, I believe I am going to exceed the speed limit sometimes on my motorcycle. The difference in the posted speed on my alternative back highways would make my route much longer than the interstate if one was going to only go the speed limit. Using good judgment and only speeding where safe makes the back roads not as much a penalty with regards to overall time.
At a couple of points along Hwy 18 I hit 133 mph (GPS verified). This is not the top speed of my motorcycle, but the fear of getting caught speeding this high had me resist attempting any higher "speed tests". For my non-motorcyclist friends, you should note that all motorcycle speedometers are optimistic and read higher than you are traveling. It is a bit of a trip to see the speedometer reading 140 mph! This is my arbitrary cut-off of any high speed runs.
High speed tests non-withstanding, I generally rode at around 80-90 mph. It would be easy to cruise along at 100 mph if I did not have the worry of speeding tickets.
From Hwy 18 I headed north on Hwy 283 to Norton, KS to reach Hwy 36 heading west. So far the majority of my trip had been on the back byways and enjoyable. The weather was warm but not too bad with very high overhead clouds. These clouds lasted the entire ride across Kansas but did not threaten rain and there was still plenty of sunlight.
Along Hwy 36, I finally stopped to eat in Atwood, KS. I had stopped briefly for my second gas stop shortly before. Atwood did not appear to have much to offer so I chose to eat at Suzy Q's restaurant which is right at the main intersection of Hwy 36 and Hwy 25. The restaurant boasted of home-cooked food. Upon recommendation, I chose the chicken-fried steak sandwich. The food and service was only fair, but I was happy to have my short break (20 minutes) from riding and opportunity to use the restroom. By now I had travelled approximately 425 miles.
Continuing onward, I crossed the rest of Kansas on Hwy 36. This part of the ride was mostly straight and well maintained. I eventually hit the Colorado state line still on Hwy 36. To my pleasure I had not really encounted any highway patrol cars so far along the way. The posted speed limit was 65 along most of the route. I stopped for gas a third time in Idalia, CO. Near Anton, CO I had the unfortunate luck to be pulled over by a Colorado state police officer.
The police car was headed toward me behind another car. At this point of the ride I was pretty much in a groove and just crusing along as seemed prudent. I had reduced my speed somewhat due to worry of increased police patrol and was probably not going much faster than 80 at any time. Unfortunately for me, while I slowed down for the oncoming traffic, I did not slow down completely because my radar detector was silent. THe police office was not using his radar until right as he passed me when my radar detector went off. I was cooked. I pulled over to the shoulder after the state officer turned around. To my dismay I was written up for 75 in a 65 mph zone. I had hoped for a warning. After signing the citation, I continued on my journey.
By this time, I was getting low on gas again and looking for a place to stop. The limited mileage range of my bike is something I will discuss in one of the future day's entries. I found gas just before turning onto I-70 for the short ride towards Denver. By now I was probably 60 miles form my destination.
Outside of Denver my GPS directed me to take the tollway which loops Northwest by the airport. This seemed like the shortest way and by now I was ready to reach my destination. Unfortunately, this is one of the newer tollways where they stop you and charge you periodically along the way. I had to stop for three tollbooths along the way and pay $2.00 at each. In the end it cost me $6.00 to travel what was less than 15 miles! Bummer.
I arrived to warm greetings at the Bells home. Almost immediately I met a fellow rider (2 Harleys) and Bell neighbor, Marty. Marty graciously offered to allow me to store my motorcycle in his garage. While generally I wouldn't worry about my bike staying outside, earlier in the week both my cars had been broken into outside my home. On quick reflection, I decided in the unlikely event my motorcycle or parts off it were stolen, it would only add insult to the injury of the thefts earlier in the week. I took Marty up on his offer.
I enjoyed dinner and good conversation at the Bells home that evening and eventually went to bed. Contrary to the Bells thought that I would be exhausted after such a long ride, 670 miles, I find motorcycle riding not that fatiguing, other than mental exhaustion and a sore butt. Motorcycle travel is not like working out, such as running or bicycling. It is generally more mentally taxing than exercise.
I ended a good day after the aforementioned 670 miles in approximately 10 hours and a nice reunion with my good friends.
I would be remiss not to start by saying that I had a wonderful visit and stay with the Bell family. The entire family were welcoming and gracious hosts during my stay.
My trip began with my leaving my home shortly after 8:00am. I am getting superstitious of loading my bike the night before. The last couple of times I have, weather has forced me to cancel my rides. Therefore after waking some time earlier, eating my regular breakfast of oatmeal and grapefruit, I finished packing the bike before leaving.
Earlier I had planned a route that allowed me to avoid as much of Interstate 70 as possible while still affording a relatively straight route to Boulder. This route had me travel on I-70 to just past Junction City, KS. On this Saturday morning the interstate travel was reasonable and not that hectic.
Just past Junction City, KS, I headed over to Hwy 18 to head west. Hwy 18 proved to be the most enjoyable part of my long ride across Kansas. This two-lane highway is sparsely trafficked, well paved and provides some nice views of the western plains.
I should mention that motorcycle travel is much different than automobile travel. First, a sportsbike motorcycle accelerates and stops much quicker than automobiles. Because of this it feels much safer traveling at a higher rate of speed than in an automobile. For me this is a blessing and curse. Personally, I enjoy riding at a speed higher than the posted limit. But, I dislike speeding tickets.
The reason for mentioning the motorcycle speed difference relates to my choice of route. Beside avoiding the huge amount of traffic on I-70, I believe I am going to exceed the speed limit sometimes on my motorcycle. The difference in the posted speed on my alternative back highways would make my route much longer than the interstate if one was going to only go the speed limit. Using good judgment and only speeding where safe makes the back roads not as much a penalty with regards to overall time.
At a couple of points along Hwy 18 I hit 133 mph (GPS verified). This is not the top speed of my motorcycle, but the fear of getting caught speeding this high had me resist attempting any higher "speed tests". For my non-motorcyclist friends, you should note that all motorcycle speedometers are optimistic and read higher than you are traveling. It is a bit of a trip to see the speedometer reading 140 mph! This is my arbitrary cut-off of any high speed runs.
High speed tests non-withstanding, I generally rode at around 80-90 mph. It would be easy to cruise along at 100 mph if I did not have the worry of speeding tickets.
From Hwy 18 I headed north on Hwy 283 to Norton, KS to reach Hwy 36 heading west. So far the majority of my trip had been on the back byways and enjoyable. The weather was warm but not too bad with very high overhead clouds. These clouds lasted the entire ride across Kansas but did not threaten rain and there was still plenty of sunlight.
Along Hwy 36, I finally stopped to eat in Atwood, KS. I had stopped briefly for my second gas stop shortly before. Atwood did not appear to have much to offer so I chose to eat at Suzy Q's restaurant which is right at the main intersection of Hwy 36 and Hwy 25. The restaurant boasted of home-cooked food. Upon recommendation, I chose the chicken-fried steak sandwich. The food and service was only fair, but I was happy to have my short break (20 minutes) from riding and opportunity to use the restroom. By now I had travelled approximately 425 miles.
Continuing onward, I crossed the rest of Kansas on Hwy 36. This part of the ride was mostly straight and well maintained. I eventually hit the Colorado state line still on Hwy 36. To my pleasure I had not really encounted any highway patrol cars so far along the way. The posted speed limit was 65 along most of the route. I stopped for gas a third time in Idalia, CO. Near Anton, CO I had the unfortunate luck to be pulled over by a Colorado state police officer.
The police car was headed toward me behind another car. At this point of the ride I was pretty much in a groove and just crusing along as seemed prudent. I had reduced my speed somewhat due to worry of increased police patrol and was probably not going much faster than 80 at any time. Unfortunately for me, while I slowed down for the oncoming traffic, I did not slow down completely because my radar detector was silent. THe police office was not using his radar until right as he passed me when my radar detector went off. I was cooked. I pulled over to the shoulder after the state officer turned around. To my dismay I was written up for 75 in a 65 mph zone. I had hoped for a warning. After signing the citation, I continued on my journey.
By this time, I was getting low on gas again and looking for a place to stop. The limited mileage range of my bike is something I will discuss in one of the future day's entries. I found gas just before turning onto I-70 for the short ride towards Denver. By now I was probably 60 miles form my destination.
Outside of Denver my GPS directed me to take the tollway which loops Northwest by the airport. This seemed like the shortest way and by now I was ready to reach my destination. Unfortunately, this is one of the newer tollways where they stop you and charge you periodically along the way. I had to stop for three tollbooths along the way and pay $2.00 at each. In the end it cost me $6.00 to travel what was less than 15 miles! Bummer.
I arrived to warm greetings at the Bells home. Almost immediately I met a fellow rider (2 Harleys) and Bell neighbor, Marty. Marty graciously offered to allow me to store my motorcycle in his garage. While generally I wouldn't worry about my bike staying outside, earlier in the week both my cars had been broken into outside my home. On quick reflection, I decided in the unlikely event my motorcycle or parts off it were stolen, it would only add insult to the injury of the thefts earlier in the week. I took Marty up on his offer.
I enjoyed dinner and good conversation at the Bells home that evening and eventually went to bed. Contrary to the Bells thought that I would be exhausted after such a long ride, 670 miles, I find motorcycle riding not that fatiguing, other than mental exhaustion and a sore butt. Motorcycle travel is not like working out, such as running or bicycling. It is generally more mentally taxing than exercise.
I ended a good day after the aforementioned 670 miles in approximately 10 hours and a nice reunion with my good friends.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Accelerade update.
Well, I have furthered my personal testing of Accelerade and am still happy with it. I would be remiss to note that my test are mostly subjective, unscientific, and may relate to my personal physiology.
I have recounted my first two trial days, Monday and Tuesday in a previous posting. I have followed these up with the following training:
Wednesday: road ride (20 miles), followed by weightlifting
Thursday: road ride (40 miles)
Friday: weightlifting
Saturday: road ride (40 miles)
Sunday:weightlifting, followed by run (5 miles)
I used the Accelerade each day. Todays comments are an example, about taste, bottle only, power.
My earlier posting tried to describe the difference I noted when cycling with Accelerade. On another ride I came up with a good way to illustrate the difference. This example uses cycling and you should try it yourself. Find some rolling hills. These are a series of hills that you basically climb then descend, then climb the next rolling hill. These are not mountains are large hills where you have sustained climbing but a short hill that takes less than a minute to climb. You know these hills. They are the ones that either require you to reduce your pedaling cadence and/or downshift gears to get over. You also reduce your average speed versus a flat area. Now the example. Ride down the hill at an accelerated pace. When you hit the bottom try to keep the pace up as you power up the next hill. At some point you should feel the lack of energy (lactate acid threshold) and your legs will be too tired to keep up this accelerated pace. Now with me, at some point in my rides I will have this feeling in my legs in all situations. Early on, my legs recover at some point. But later, the ability to recover or hit peak power is significantly diminished. When drinking the Accelerade, my legs do not feel this fatigue or it is greatly diminished when I am riding generally the same training pace. Significantly my legs feel much fresher at the end of the ride. So far in my short test, I feel better recovered for the next days training.
Regarding the taste of Accelerade. One thing I really like is how the Accelerade tastes. Here I am not talking about the flavor, but the physical taste. While the Accelerade is in no way gooey or thick it does seem to have a consistency that is different than pure liquid like water. For me it is really satisfying and somewhere between eating and drinking while workout. Eat really satisfies me much like eating. Normally, when riding hard I can't wait till the end when I can eat. But, I find my cycling suffers if I eat food while training. I may have not mentioned that I like the Accelerade much better at room temperature (or slightly warmed when warmed up during a long ride) than chilled.
I should note that my experiments have been with the premixed Accelerade (grapefruit citrus flavor). Accelerade mix has been around for awhile. A search of the internet will provide mixed reviews of the powered mix version. I think it is significant that many people end up mixing the powered Accelerade to non-standard proportions. If there is any truth to the scientific claims of the producer, this variation on the mixed strength may work less well.
Finally my comment on power. Accelerade seems to help with "muscle energy" or endurance and recovery. This is opposed to power (fast twitch muscles?). As in my example above, I am noting a remarkable increase in endurance and less muscle soreness. This does not mean that I am noting a noted increase in pure strength (power). Nor would I really expect it to. In weightlifting, I notice much less of an effect (other than slightly reduced muscle soreness). I do like the Accelerade for running and cycling. While not directly affecting power, I believe the training effects may help facilitate more power training (such as intervals) that eventually increase power.
Bottom line. I still like the Accelerade a week later and will continue trying it.
I have recounted my first two trial days, Monday and Tuesday in a previous posting. I have followed these up with the following training:
Wednesday: road ride (20 miles), followed by weightlifting
Thursday: road ride (40 miles)
Friday: weightlifting
Saturday: road ride (40 miles)
Sunday:weightlifting, followed by run (5 miles)
I used the Accelerade each day. Todays comments are an example, about taste, bottle only, power.
My earlier posting tried to describe the difference I noted when cycling with Accelerade. On another ride I came up with a good way to illustrate the difference. This example uses cycling and you should try it yourself. Find some rolling hills. These are a series of hills that you basically climb then descend, then climb the next rolling hill. These are not mountains are large hills where you have sustained climbing but a short hill that takes less than a minute to climb. You know these hills. They are the ones that either require you to reduce your pedaling cadence and/or downshift gears to get over. You also reduce your average speed versus a flat area. Now the example. Ride down the hill at an accelerated pace. When you hit the bottom try to keep the pace up as you power up the next hill. At some point you should feel the lack of energy (lactate acid threshold) and your legs will be too tired to keep up this accelerated pace. Now with me, at some point in my rides I will have this feeling in my legs in all situations. Early on, my legs recover at some point. But later, the ability to recover or hit peak power is significantly diminished. When drinking the Accelerade, my legs do not feel this fatigue or it is greatly diminished when I am riding generally the same training pace. Significantly my legs feel much fresher at the end of the ride. So far in my short test, I feel better recovered for the next days training.
Regarding the taste of Accelerade. One thing I really like is how the Accelerade tastes. Here I am not talking about the flavor, but the physical taste. While the Accelerade is in no way gooey or thick it does seem to have a consistency that is different than pure liquid like water. For me it is really satisfying and somewhere between eating and drinking while workout. Eat really satisfies me much like eating. Normally, when riding hard I can't wait till the end when I can eat. But, I find my cycling suffers if I eat food while training. I may have not mentioned that I like the Accelerade much better at room temperature (or slightly warmed when warmed up during a long ride) than chilled.
I should note that my experiments have been with the premixed Accelerade (grapefruit citrus flavor). Accelerade mix has been around for awhile. A search of the internet will provide mixed reviews of the powered mix version. I think it is significant that many people end up mixing the powered Accelerade to non-standard proportions. If there is any truth to the scientific claims of the producer, this variation on the mixed strength may work less well.
Finally my comment on power. Accelerade seems to help with "muscle energy" or endurance and recovery. This is opposed to power (fast twitch muscles?). As in my example above, I am noting a remarkable increase in endurance and less muscle soreness. This does not mean that I am noting a noted increase in pure strength (power). Nor would I really expect it to. In weightlifting, I notice much less of an effect (other than slightly reduced muscle soreness). I do like the Accelerade for running and cycling. While not directly affecting power, I believe the training effects may help facilitate more power training (such as intervals) that eventually increase power.
Bottom line. I still like the Accelerade a week later and will continue trying it.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Accelerade...Magic Elixir?
Wanted to post about a new sports drink I am trying that appears to work, very, very well. Accelerade is a liquid sports drink (somewhat like Gatorade) that claims it's 4:1 (Carb:Protein) formula is ideal for endurance and fitness training and performance. So far, this product really seems to live up to its billing.
I have only used this product for two days so far, but the results have been amazing.
I initially purchased my first bottle (20 oz., regular price $1.99 before discounts) at Target. I thought to give an "energy" drink another try after listening to a friend rave about another product, Perpetuam by Hammer Nutrition, and his cycling efforts. According to the friend, he could do very long rides without running out of energy when using the Perptuem mix. It helped my decision that Accelerade comes in grapefruit flavor (as well as several others). I like the taste of grapefruit a lot.
On Monday, I did my first ride while using the Accelerade sports drink. This was a 40 mile ride where the temperature was around 100 degrees and the heat index was well into the hundreds. I immediately noticed that my muscles did not seem to lose energy as they normally would (and did on the ride the day before). It is really hard to describe the feeling. It is not like I had more strength (and consequently speed), just that my legs felt fresh the entire ride. Very notably, I had no soreness after the ride, nor later that evening. This may have been the hottest day so far this year.
The next day, Tuesday, I decided to continue my trial. I chose to do a brick (combination cycling/running effort). I first rode 20 hilly miles. Then I immediately followed this up with a 3.5 mile run. Once again, drinking the Accelerade along the way I felt much fresher the entire time. In addition, once again I experience little to no soreness. This is much different than the same training not using Accelerade.
I little about my personal physiology. I seem to carry a lot of water and generally do not have a problem in very hot weather. I can regularly exercise (such as a bike or run) in 100 degree weather for at least an hour with no additional water and not feel ill-effects. On reading the many articles on the importance of hydrating while exercising, I have tried to up my water intake on rides and runs. This does not seem to help all that much. In fact, too much water seems more or a problem than too little water.
I have also tried (and generally use) Gatorade on very long exercise periods. This seem to quench my thirst. I generally tolerate Gatorade (even warm) very well. Only a large dose will leave me feeling bloated. In addition to Gatorade, I have tried many gels (such as GU) and power bars. I generally like Apple-Cinnamon Powerbars the best. Importantly, none of these aids seem to make a noticeable difference in my performance. At best they delayed complete exhaustion.
The other training nutrition foods/drinks differ from my experience with Accelerade, in that the Accelerade made a noticeable difference in my performance during and after training. I look forward to continued use and trial.
I have searched the net for suggestions or examples of how others are using Accelerade. Other than some general testimonials I have not seen any specific training recipes. For reference, I have been drinking the Accelrade every 15 minutes during exercise with each drink consisting of a couple of swallows of the drink. I have been using the pre-mixed ("ready to use") bottled version of grapefruit-citrus Accelerade. My drinking rate is around 20oz per hour and a quarter when cycling. I have no problem drinking the Accelerade unchilled.
To recap. Drinking Accelerade I have experiences fresher muscles and longer endurance. I have experience a noticeable reduction in during and after workout muscle soreness. The only (slightly) negative item with Accelerade is a sightly "cotton-mouth" taste in my mouth after drinking it. In my case this is very mild feeling and not a problem. In contrast, when drinking straight water durning heavy exercise, my mouth always feels unquenched, so I probably prefer the slightly "cotton-mouth" feeling of Accelerade.
Some general thoughts:
1. Anti-drug. I have been around other who have used performance stimulating drugs such as anabolic steroids and stimulants. I do not advocate or condone their use in a any way. I have seen the users exhibit the negative effects. Accelerade does not list any questionable chemicals in it's ingredient list.
2. Supplements. I generally do not believe in vitamin supplements. My unscientific belief is that these are generally more harmful then helpful. If your body naturally creates a chemical, unless there is medical deficiency, I believe the addition of a lab-made supplement will just encourage the body to shut down it's natural production. It also seems that users tend to have to use more and more of the supplements to get the same benefits.
3. No Pain, No Gain. Anybody who has suffered a torn ACL or MCL can tell you that this thought process is wrong. No way can you work through this injury nor does it make you a better athlete. Keeping this in mind if a sports drink allows you do do strong effort with less pain, I believe my training is more effective.
2. Milk vs. Soy protein. Accelerade uses milk-based whey as it's protein source. While I have read articles advocating the superiority of soy-based whey, I am not sure I believe they are actually superior. Based on my limited trial of Accelerade it still appears to work.
I have only used this product for two days so far, but the results have been amazing.
I initially purchased my first bottle (20 oz., regular price $1.99 before discounts) at Target. I thought to give an "energy" drink another try after listening to a friend rave about another product, Perpetuam by Hammer Nutrition, and his cycling efforts. According to the friend, he could do very long rides without running out of energy when using the Perptuem mix. It helped my decision that Accelerade comes in grapefruit flavor (as well as several others). I like the taste of grapefruit a lot.
On Monday, I did my first ride while using the Accelerade sports drink. This was a 40 mile ride where the temperature was around 100 degrees and the heat index was well into the hundreds. I immediately noticed that my muscles did not seem to lose energy as they normally would (and did on the ride the day before). It is really hard to describe the feeling. It is not like I had more strength (and consequently speed), just that my legs felt fresh the entire ride. Very notably, I had no soreness after the ride, nor later that evening. This may have been the hottest day so far this year.
The next day, Tuesday, I decided to continue my trial. I chose to do a brick (combination cycling/running effort). I first rode 20 hilly miles. Then I immediately followed this up with a 3.5 mile run. Once again, drinking the Accelerade along the way I felt much fresher the entire time. In addition, once again I experience little to no soreness. This is much different than the same training not using Accelerade.
I little about my personal physiology. I seem to carry a lot of water and generally do not have a problem in very hot weather. I can regularly exercise (such as a bike or run) in 100 degree weather for at least an hour with no additional water and not feel ill-effects. On reading the many articles on the importance of hydrating while exercising, I have tried to up my water intake on rides and runs. This does not seem to help all that much. In fact, too much water seems more or a problem than too little water.
I have also tried (and generally use) Gatorade on very long exercise periods. This seem to quench my thirst. I generally tolerate Gatorade (even warm) very well. Only a large dose will leave me feeling bloated. In addition to Gatorade, I have tried many gels (such as GU) and power bars. I generally like Apple-Cinnamon Powerbars the best. Importantly, none of these aids seem to make a noticeable difference in my performance. At best they delayed complete exhaustion.
The other training nutrition foods/drinks differ from my experience with Accelerade, in that the Accelerade made a noticeable difference in my performance during and after training. I look forward to continued use and trial.
I have searched the net for suggestions or examples of how others are using Accelerade. Other than some general testimonials I have not seen any specific training recipes. For reference, I have been drinking the Accelrade every 15 minutes during exercise with each drink consisting of a couple of swallows of the drink. I have been using the pre-mixed ("ready to use") bottled version of grapefruit-citrus Accelerade. My drinking rate is around 20oz per hour and a quarter when cycling. I have no problem drinking the Accelerade unchilled.
To recap. Drinking Accelerade I have experiences fresher muscles and longer endurance. I have experience a noticeable reduction in during and after workout muscle soreness. The only (slightly) negative item with Accelerade is a sightly "cotton-mouth" taste in my mouth after drinking it. In my case this is very mild feeling and not a problem. In contrast, when drinking straight water durning heavy exercise, my mouth always feels unquenched, so I probably prefer the slightly "cotton-mouth" feeling of Accelerade.
Some general thoughts:
1. Anti-drug. I have been around other who have used performance stimulating drugs such as anabolic steroids and stimulants. I do not advocate or condone their use in a any way. I have seen the users exhibit the negative effects. Accelerade does not list any questionable chemicals in it's ingredient list.
2. Supplements. I generally do not believe in vitamin supplements. My unscientific belief is that these are generally more harmful then helpful. If your body naturally creates a chemical, unless there is medical deficiency, I believe the addition of a lab-made supplement will just encourage the body to shut down it's natural production. It also seems that users tend to have to use more and more of the supplements to get the same benefits.
3. No Pain, No Gain. Anybody who has suffered a torn ACL or MCL can tell you that this thought process is wrong. No way can you work through this injury nor does it make you a better athlete. Keeping this in mind if a sports drink allows you do do strong effort with less pain, I believe my training is more effective.
2. Milk vs. Soy protein. Accelerade uses milk-based whey as it's protein source. While I have read articles advocating the superiority of soy-based whey, I am not sure I believe they are actually superior. Based on my limited trial of Accelerade it still appears to work.
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Dallas Ramble - Day 4
Day four of this little trip was basically riding back home to Kansas City.
Late the previous evening I decided that I would return to Kansas City. This was due to three basic reasons. First, the weather had only been so-so with periods of light showers. It looked like the weather at home was much better. Second, I had hatched up a plan with a friend to maybe go bicycling in the Colorado mountains. Depending on his schedule, we would be going in a couple of weeks. Since I have been neglecting my cycling I wanted to get back and do some minimal cycling training. Finally, it really is pleasant to keep these short trips cheap. Camping helps. Another day in Dallas (especially when the weather isn't great) would just up the cost of the trip.
After waking up and getting dressed, I rode the short distance to my favorite Chick-Fil-A for breakfast. It was pleasant that several of the employees remember me despite the fact that it has been a long time between visits. I note there was a light shower as I arrived and left the restaurant. I then rode back to hotel and packed for my trip.
It has stopped raining by the time I was packed and checked out of the hotel. Since it was Saturday morning, the traffic getting out of Dallas was busy but not too bad. I had decided that I would take a more direct route back to Kansas City rather than alternates that add a lot of extra mileage and time. This is basically US-75 to US-69. Rather than the recommended (via mapping software) I chose to ride US-69 through Kansas rather than heading into Missouri and heading north on US-71 (which is a longer distance but maybe slightly faster due to speed limits).
US-75 is basically uninteresting with a fair amount of traffic. The same is true of US-69 in Oklahoma. There is one area where the road cuts through some lakes where the speeds can gat up. Fortunately for me I was listening to XM radio the entire trip to keep me from getting bored out of my mind. Near where US-69 meets I-44 in Oklahoma I got slightly off-track as I tried to avoid the toll of the I-44 turnpike. This was okay as I was trying to find a place to eat, gas up, and it ended up allowing me to ride part of the old route 66. One interesting thing I saw was a group (5-6) of late-model Corvettes driving down the road. They were heading the other way so I did not find out what they were up to. Probably a car club. It was somewhere near here where I met my first rain storm of the trip. As I go off on a county road (beautifully paved) it really began to pour. As there was nowhere good to stop I just rode on. The storm lasted about 15 miles. This was one of those showers where some cars pull over to the shoulder and wait it out. My Ducati wearing it's Avon Storm tires performed very well and I felt comfortable driving on.
I still had not found a place to eat as I continued North. By this time I was just looking for a McDonalds or other generally reliable restaurant to get something to eat at. By now I was within two-hours of Kansas City. It is at these times you ponder just continuing on until the destination. After deep thought I decided it was better to make a short stop for food as the skies ahead looked very threatening. Unfortunately as I rode I felt a flapping on top of my helmet, much like a bird flapping against the top of my helmet. I reached up and found that a plastic part (air duct) on my Arai helmet had come almost completely unglued. As I was traveling at highway speeds I just pulled the piece off and stuck it into my tankbag. You can read my thoughts about the terrible Arai company and the poor quality of there products by searching my blog.
I finally stopped in Pittsburg, KS at a McDonalds. My riding gear (waterproof) had held the rain out well. An inspection of my helmet showed that the failed plastic air cover (which is taped on with double-sided glue strips) just covers three round holes in the helmet. I decided I would have to fix this when I got home. The crash-worthiness of the helmet appeared to be intact. I chose to spend about 20 minutes at the McDonalds getting a quick bite and reading a book (as I often do to relax). I then got on the bike for the final leg home. Just as I was leaving the McDonalds I got hit by the second hard rain of the ride. This lasted for about 20 miles. Once again the riding was no problem.
The final miles of the ride were no problem with the weather turning mostly sunny and very muggy as I got near KC. Riding in from the south I am once-again amazed at how much the city has grown even in the past couple of years. It is a different and comforting feeling to ride on the roads that are your regulars (after spending even a short time away). Interestingly, even after my short trip, arriving back into Kansas City reminded me what a cool town it is for a mid-large city. I am still glad to live here.
Late the previous evening I decided that I would return to Kansas City. This was due to three basic reasons. First, the weather had only been so-so with periods of light showers. It looked like the weather at home was much better. Second, I had hatched up a plan with a friend to maybe go bicycling in the Colorado mountains. Depending on his schedule, we would be going in a couple of weeks. Since I have been neglecting my cycling I wanted to get back and do some minimal cycling training. Finally, it really is pleasant to keep these short trips cheap. Camping helps. Another day in Dallas (especially when the weather isn't great) would just up the cost of the trip.
After waking up and getting dressed, I rode the short distance to my favorite Chick-Fil-A for breakfast. It was pleasant that several of the employees remember me despite the fact that it has been a long time between visits. I note there was a light shower as I arrived and left the restaurant. I then rode back to hotel and packed for my trip.
It has stopped raining by the time I was packed and checked out of the hotel. Since it was Saturday morning, the traffic getting out of Dallas was busy but not too bad. I had decided that I would take a more direct route back to Kansas City rather than alternates that add a lot of extra mileage and time. This is basically US-75 to US-69. Rather than the recommended (via mapping software) I chose to ride US-69 through Kansas rather than heading into Missouri and heading north on US-71 (which is a longer distance but maybe slightly faster due to speed limits).
US-75 is basically uninteresting with a fair amount of traffic. The same is true of US-69 in Oklahoma. There is one area where the road cuts through some lakes where the speeds can gat up. Fortunately for me I was listening to XM radio the entire trip to keep me from getting bored out of my mind. Near where US-69 meets I-44 in Oklahoma I got slightly off-track as I tried to avoid the toll of the I-44 turnpike. This was okay as I was trying to find a place to eat, gas up, and it ended up allowing me to ride part of the old route 66. One interesting thing I saw was a group (5-6) of late-model Corvettes driving down the road. They were heading the other way so I did not find out what they were up to. Probably a car club. It was somewhere near here where I met my first rain storm of the trip. As I go off on a county road (beautifully paved) it really began to pour. As there was nowhere good to stop I just rode on. The storm lasted about 15 miles. This was one of those showers where some cars pull over to the shoulder and wait it out. My Ducati wearing it's Avon Storm tires performed very well and I felt comfortable driving on.
I still had not found a place to eat as I continued North. By this time I was just looking for a McDonalds or other generally reliable restaurant to get something to eat at. By now I was within two-hours of Kansas City. It is at these times you ponder just continuing on until the destination. After deep thought I decided it was better to make a short stop for food as the skies ahead looked very threatening. Unfortunately as I rode I felt a flapping on top of my helmet, much like a bird flapping against the top of my helmet. I reached up and found that a plastic part (air duct) on my Arai helmet had come almost completely unglued. As I was traveling at highway speeds I just pulled the piece off and stuck it into my tankbag. You can read my thoughts about the terrible Arai company and the poor quality of there products by searching my blog.
I finally stopped in Pittsburg, KS at a McDonalds. My riding gear (waterproof) had held the rain out well. An inspection of my helmet showed that the failed plastic air cover (which is taped on with double-sided glue strips) just covers three round holes in the helmet. I decided I would have to fix this when I got home. The crash-worthiness of the helmet appeared to be intact. I chose to spend about 20 minutes at the McDonalds getting a quick bite and reading a book (as I often do to relax). I then got on the bike for the final leg home. Just as I was leaving the McDonalds I got hit by the second hard rain of the ride. This lasted for about 20 miles. Once again the riding was no problem.
The final miles of the ride were no problem with the weather turning mostly sunny and very muggy as I got near KC. Riding in from the south I am once-again amazed at how much the city has grown even in the past couple of years. It is a different and comforting feeling to ride on the roads that are your regulars (after spending even a short time away). Interestingly, even after my short trip, arriving back into Kansas City reminded me what a cool town it is for a mid-large city. I am still glad to live here.
Monday, August 06, 2007
Dallas Ramble - Day 3
Sorry for the long delay. Day 3 was spend entirely in Dallas. The only motorcycle riding was in-city commuting.
I woke and dressed for breakfast with a my friend Kevin. We planned to meet at a local breakfast place. I arrived first and secured a table. We enjoyed an okay breakfast and good conversation. After of breakfast Kevin headed off for work and errands I went in search of an auto parts store for a replacement taillight bulb.
The first auto parts store I visited (on the way back to the hotel) did not have the needed bulb. When I asked about an alternate, nearby auto parts store, the employee suggested two other parts stores (same chain), both of which were not very convenient. I decided I probably find something closer and continued my ride back to the hotel. Probably two blocks (versus several miles for the suggested alternates) I found another parts store. This parts store had the needed bulb which I replaced quickly after removing the two screws that hold on the brake light lsns.
I continued on to the hotel. I only had a short time before heading off for my scheduled lunch meeting. This was at one of my favorite restaurants, Corner Bakery, this location on Coit Rd. I enjoyed the a good lunch and conversation with my lunch partner.
After lunch, I rode up the street and decided to have my haircut at a regular hair styling salon when in Dallas. This is one of the chains but has generally done a reasonable job for a reasonable price. Haircut accomplished I rode back to the hotel. The weather so far had been mostly cloudy.
On my way I stopped and spend some time in a Borders Bookstore (I had a discount coupon) and purchased a new book. I also visited Nordstrom Rack. I have found some great shoe deals here in the past. Upon return to the hotel, I decided to go for a run. I have a regular 2.5-3 mile loop I generally run from the hotel. This run a one large square that runs from my hotel along Preston Rd (mostly commercial but with good sidewalk and few street or entrance crossings) and then along a major residential artery. I was feeling good and wanted a longer run so I ran two loops (5-6 miles).
After returning from my run, i showered and then noodled on computer for awhile and did some reading. For some reason (possibly because it is one of my favorite restaurants) I still felt like Corner Bakery for dinner. I visited a different Corner Bakery (on Preston Rd) for dinner. Here, my thing is to get a iced tea from the Starbucks (next door) and then walk over to the Corner Bakery> I just like the tea at Starbucks better than the Corner Bakery. This is no negative on Corner as the tea there is okay and the food is excellent. While at Starbucks I saw and spoke to old friend (motorcycling acquaintance) for a short while. My dinner at Corner Bakery was great as usual. After eating my dinner I walked over to the REI (outdoor sporting goods) which is across Preston Rd from the Corner Bakery and Starbucks. REI is a neat store which is a little different because the entire company is a Co-op. The employees are generally very nice and friendly. I didn't find anything I just had to have. It was now around 9:00pm. I walked back across the street and hung out in the Starbucks for a little while reading a book and people watching. Soon I headed towards the hotel, gassed up, and arrived back to go to sleep.
Corner Bakery (Preston Rd)
Starbucks (Barnes & Noble) from Corner Bakery parking lot
A couple of random thoughts:
1. The suburbs of Dallas are somewhat like a big city. You can tend to hang out in a small area. My longtime stomping grounds is around Plano Pkwy and Preston Road. There are many restuarants and stores within a mile of here.
2. The traffic in the area is pretty heavy no matter what time of day. During rush hours it can be almost overwhelming.
3. The Corner Bakery area (near Preston and Park Avenue) is super convenient and and comfortable place to hang out. This little strip mall has a great combination Barnes and Noble/Starbucks, the aforementioned Corner Bakery, and a Whole Foods market almost next door.
4. Another good (at least from a money-savings perspective) thing about motorcycle vacationing is that you have limited room to carry things. This factors into any discretionary purchasing and has me foregoing some of those shopping purchases of things I might like but don't really need.
5. The burned out taillight bulb reminded me that besides being a little self-sufficient, a motorcycle you travel on should be serviceable. Specifically, I note that a lot of motorcyclist modify their directional and regular lights. It was really convenient that I could replace the burned out taillight bulb with a commonly available part.
I woke and dressed for breakfast with a my friend Kevin. We planned to meet at a local breakfast place. I arrived first and secured a table. We enjoyed an okay breakfast and good conversation. After of breakfast Kevin headed off for work and errands I went in search of an auto parts store for a replacement taillight bulb.
The first auto parts store I visited (on the way back to the hotel) did not have the needed bulb. When I asked about an alternate, nearby auto parts store, the employee suggested two other parts stores (same chain), both of which were not very convenient. I decided I probably find something closer and continued my ride back to the hotel. Probably two blocks (versus several miles for the suggested alternates) I found another parts store. This parts store had the needed bulb which I replaced quickly after removing the two screws that hold on the brake light lsns.
I continued on to the hotel. I only had a short time before heading off for my scheduled lunch meeting. This was at one of my favorite restaurants, Corner Bakery, this location on Coit Rd. I enjoyed the a good lunch and conversation with my lunch partner.
After lunch, I rode up the street and decided to have my haircut at a regular hair styling salon when in Dallas. This is one of the chains but has generally done a reasonable job for a reasonable price. Haircut accomplished I rode back to the hotel. The weather so far had been mostly cloudy.
On my way I stopped and spend some time in a Borders Bookstore (I had a discount coupon) and purchased a new book. I also visited Nordstrom Rack. I have found some great shoe deals here in the past. Upon return to the hotel, I decided to go for a run. I have a regular 2.5-3 mile loop I generally run from the hotel. This run a one large square that runs from my hotel along Preston Rd (mostly commercial but with good sidewalk and few street or entrance crossings) and then along a major residential artery. I was feeling good and wanted a longer run so I ran two loops (5-6 miles).
After returning from my run, i showered and then noodled on computer for awhile and did some reading. For some reason (possibly because it is one of my favorite restaurants) I still felt like Corner Bakery for dinner. I visited a different Corner Bakery (on Preston Rd) for dinner. Here, my thing is to get a iced tea from the Starbucks (next door) and then walk over to the Corner Bakery> I just like the tea at Starbucks better than the Corner Bakery. This is no negative on Corner as the tea there is okay and the food is excellent. While at Starbucks I saw and spoke to old friend (motorcycling acquaintance) for a short while. My dinner at Corner Bakery was great as usual. After eating my dinner I walked over to the REI (outdoor sporting goods) which is across Preston Rd from the Corner Bakery and Starbucks. REI is a neat store which is a little different because the entire company is a Co-op. The employees are generally very nice and friendly. I didn't find anything I just had to have. It was now around 9:00pm. I walked back across the street and hung out in the Starbucks for a little while reading a book and people watching. Soon I headed towards the hotel, gassed up, and arrived back to go to sleep.
Corner Bakery (Preston Rd)
Starbucks (Barnes & Noble) from Corner Bakery parking lot
A couple of random thoughts:
1. The suburbs of Dallas are somewhat like a big city. You can tend to hang out in a small area. My longtime stomping grounds is around Plano Pkwy and Preston Road. There are many restuarants and stores within a mile of here.
2. The traffic in the area is pretty heavy no matter what time of day. During rush hours it can be almost overwhelming.
3. The Corner Bakery area (near Preston and Park Avenue) is super convenient and and comfortable place to hang out. This little strip mall has a great combination Barnes and Noble/Starbucks, the aforementioned Corner Bakery, and a Whole Foods market almost next door.
4. Another good (at least from a money-savings perspective) thing about motorcycle vacationing is that you have limited room to carry things. This factors into any discretionary purchasing and has me foregoing some of those shopping purchases of things I might like but don't really need.
5. The burned out taillight bulb reminded me that besides being a little self-sufficient, a motorcycle you travel on should be serviceable. Specifically, I note that a lot of motorcyclist modify their directional and regular lights. It was really convenient that I could replace the burned out taillight bulb with a commonly available part.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Dallas Ramble - Day 2
I woke up early (6:00 am) for my day which resulted in me traveling the 360 miles from Mt. Magazine State Park to Dallas, TX. I awoke to a a beautiful morning after a good nights sleep in the tent. In no particular hurry I leisurely packed my stuff for the days trip.
Leaving the park, I followed AR-309 south to Havana, AR. This curving, mountain road is not as nice as the northern side. Havana is a very small town with no restaurants or services to speak of. I continued on AR-10 to Booneville, AR where I stopped for breakfast at McDonnell's. I had forgotten to bring my favored grapefruit to eat at the picnic, so I had to make do with unhealthy breakfast. I left Booneville and continued south on AR-23 until it reached Hwy 71. 23 south of Booneville is once again a nice winding, rolling road that is nice to motorcycle on. This time I encountered more traffic as I rode Hwy 71 towards Mena, AR. The road is good but I encountered enough traffic to slow my progress.
Rather then head all the way into Mena, AR I chose to turn onto Hwy 270 and then take AR-272(?) to the Talimena Scenic Byway (TSB) or Hwy 88. This avoids the traffic of Mena but cuts off 14 miles of the TSB. On the plus side the narrow and steep mountain road (AR-272) that cuts from 270 to 88 is a trip. At the bottom I passed a minivan whose brakes were so overheated you could clearly smell the burning.This road is so narrow it does not appear that two cars can pass in opposite directions (despite being two way). It is also densely lined with trees on both side. The road connects to the TSB right at the Queen Wilamena State Park. I made a short stop to use the restroom facilities in the camp bathhouse then continued my ride along the TSB.
The Talimena Scenic Byway once again proved be a very rewarding motorcycle road. I stopped a couple of times to take pictures but the pictures do not really illustrate what a great road this is.
After finishing the TSB in Talihina, OK I continued south on Hwy 272. This road was again a series of enjoyable fast sweepers and my progress was smooth. I continued through Antlers, OK to Paris, TX. From Paris I rode to Dallas, TX (Plano).
From north of Dallas, the traffic is very heavy. Fortunately I a used to it so I am not bothered by riding here. I arrived at my favorite La Quinta Hotel at 2:30. Atypically, I had some problem getting my (free night) reservation made while in the lobby of the hotel. I had a reservation made for the next two days but just needed to get a room for that day (Thursday). Thirty minutes later all was well. As mentioned my hassle was notable and I spoke to the manager (not his or his staffs fault) and later La Quinta corporate management (Returns Club). I very much hope this is one time glitch and not a sign of things to come.
I had plans for dinner with a friend, so after unpacking I went for run. Later I enjoyed dinner at the Grand Luxe (a concept from the owners of the Cheesecake Factory). This restaurant is located in the Dallas Galleria. While I had not been rained on during my trip into town the skies were overcast and threatening of rain. I almost made it the Galieria when it began to rain. Fortunately I was near the covered parking garage and only got slightly wet. While we eat a long dinner at the restaurant, it rained pretty hard. Fortunately by the time I left (after 10:00 pm) it had pretty much dried up.
On my ride back to the hotel I was advised by the driver of a passing car that my taillight was out. I pulled over in a parking lot to find while my brake light worked the running light (red) was broken. Now in some places this may not be as big a deal as Dallas. But I still had 3-5 miles to ride on a very busy road. There was really nothing to do but ride with my emergeny flashers on until I got to the hotel. I made it safe.
It had been a pretty long day so I pretty much hit the sack after I arrived at the hotel.
Leaving the park, I followed AR-309 south to Havana, AR. This curving, mountain road is not as nice as the northern side. Havana is a very small town with no restaurants or services to speak of. I continued on AR-10 to Booneville, AR where I stopped for breakfast at McDonnell's. I had forgotten to bring my favored grapefruit to eat at the picnic, so I had to make do with unhealthy breakfast. I left Booneville and continued south on AR-23 until it reached Hwy 71. 23 south of Booneville is once again a nice winding, rolling road that is nice to motorcycle on. This time I encountered more traffic as I rode Hwy 71 towards Mena, AR. The road is good but I encountered enough traffic to slow my progress.
Rather then head all the way into Mena, AR I chose to turn onto Hwy 270 and then take AR-272(?) to the Talimena Scenic Byway (TSB) or Hwy 88. This avoids the traffic of Mena but cuts off 14 miles of the TSB. On the plus side the narrow and steep mountain road (AR-272) that cuts from 270 to 88 is a trip. At the bottom I passed a minivan whose brakes were so overheated you could clearly smell the burning.This road is so narrow it does not appear that two cars can pass in opposite directions (despite being two way). It is also densely lined with trees on both side. The road connects to the TSB right at the Queen Wilamena State Park. I made a short stop to use the restroom facilities in the camp bathhouse then continued my ride along the TSB.
The Talimena Scenic Byway once again proved be a very rewarding motorcycle road. I stopped a couple of times to take pictures but the pictures do not really illustrate what a great road this is.
After finishing the TSB in Talihina, OK I continued south on Hwy 272. This road was again a series of enjoyable fast sweepers and my progress was smooth. I continued through Antlers, OK to Paris, TX. From Paris I rode to Dallas, TX (Plano).
From north of Dallas, the traffic is very heavy. Fortunately I a used to it so I am not bothered by riding here. I arrived at my favorite La Quinta Hotel at 2:30. Atypically, I had some problem getting my (free night) reservation made while in the lobby of the hotel. I had a reservation made for the next two days but just needed to get a room for that day (Thursday). Thirty minutes later all was well. As mentioned my hassle was notable and I spoke to the manager (not his or his staffs fault) and later La Quinta corporate management (Returns Club). I very much hope this is one time glitch and not a sign of things to come.
I had plans for dinner with a friend, so after unpacking I went for run. Later I enjoyed dinner at the Grand Luxe (a concept from the owners of the Cheesecake Factory). This restaurant is located in the Dallas Galleria. While I had not been rained on during my trip into town the skies were overcast and threatening of rain. I almost made it the Galieria when it began to rain. Fortunately I was near the covered parking garage and only got slightly wet. While we eat a long dinner at the restaurant, it rained pretty hard. Fortunately by the time I left (after 10:00 pm) it had pretty much dried up.
On my ride back to the hotel I was advised by the driver of a passing car that my taillight was out. I pulled over in a parking lot to find while my brake light worked the running light (red) was broken. Now in some places this may not be as big a deal as Dallas. But I still had 3-5 miles to ride on a very busy road. There was really nothing to do but ride with my emergeny flashers on until I got to the hotel. I made it safe.
It had been a pretty long day so I pretty much hit the sack after I arrived at the hotel.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Dallas Ramble - Day 1
Wednesday I took off on another motorcycle ramble for a couple of days. The main initiative for this ride was to meet with some business contacts in Dallas Texas on Friday as well as try to catch up with some friends. Day 1's itinerary was riding from home (KC) to Mt. Magazine State Park in Arkansas.
Initially I debated whether to start my ride on Wednesday or Thursday. Leaving on Thursday would have me riding the entire way to Dallas on the same day to get there in time for meetings set up on Friday. I would then continue the trip for longer during the weekend. The forecast showed a slight chance of rain on Thursday, so I chose my Wednesday departure instead.
As seems to be becoming the norm, my initial packing and getting started dragged on later than it should have. After doing some necessary work prior to my start and finishing packing it was nearly 11:00 am. By now, I decided I might as well have lunch at my favorite lunch place. Chipotle. This plan was coupled with my basic timing of not hitting the state park until evening.
After dropping off my mail and lunch I finally hit the highway. The route out of KC on Hwy 71 was pretty straight and fast. As in the past I was able to find a fast moving car to follow. In this case it was a contruction company pickup that was traveling 95 to 100 miles an hour the entire way to Joplin, MO. I was able to lay back and follow this truck the entire way with no police encounters. Passing through Bentonville and Rodgers was a little bit of a drag because of the traffic.
At Fayetteville, AR I cut through town in accordance with my plan to take AR-16 to connect to AR-23. I had not been on AR-16 before and wanted to see if this was a good route. This route took me through the main part of Fayetteville. While an interesting diversion (as I have not been to Fayetteville before) I really don't recommended it as a must see. It was between 4:30 and 5:00 pm now so I experiences a little traffic. I followed AR-16 to AR-23 finding that the AR-16 is just an okay road and I would not highly rate it for motorcycling. Once I connected to AR-23 (the "Pigs Trail") the riding got much better.
I had based my timing to arrive in Ozark, AR in time for dinner. I had read about Model Cafe on an internet motorcycle forum posting and thought it might be a good place to get something to eat prior to camping at Mt. Magazine. To my disappointment I found that the cafe was closed. I am not sure if it was just for the night or permanently. I rode around this very small town but did not find any other places to eat that looked interesting. Thus, I continued on south to Paris, AR. Paris is the last town north of the Mt. Magazine state park. I was confident that I could find someplace to eat there. Upon arriving in Paris, I decided that I wanted a relatively short dinner as I wanted to get to the state park before it was dark. I chose to eat at Subway. The food was uninspired, but it was pleasant to see a group of high school aged kids (friends of the employees working there) hanging out in the restaurant. Overhearing part of their conversations I was reminded that kids are kids no matter where you are.
I left the Subway and rode on AR-309 up the mountain to Mt. Magazine state park. While their is construction on 309 part of the way I was not bothered as the construction crews had already quit for the day and there was very little traffic. This stretch of AR-309 (Paris to Mt. Magazine State Park) is a very nice motorcycling road with curves, relatively good pavement, and scenery.
Upon reaching the state park, I made a quick pass through the campground to verify that it was full before heading to the Brown Springs picnic area. As I have posted before the picnic area is the designated spot for overflow camping. On arriving, I found one other set of visitors. This couple and their young son where finishing a late picnic and indicated they were not planning on camping. I set up my camping gear and then headed back to the campground bathhouse for a shower. Once again, the bathhouse was very clean and amenable. I spent a few minutes talking with other campers before heading back to my campsite.
When I returned to my campsite, the other visitors had left and I had the place to myself. This peace was only interrupted twice when a park ranger vehicle drove through (8:00 pm and 9:00 pm). The ranger did not stop or otherwise bother me. As my previous visit this campsite is very peaceful and relaxing. On this visit the cricket sounds where much louder. Also the sky was a little overcast. My only worry was whether it was going to rain. I chose not to put the rain fly over my tent and leave the "moon roof" unzipped. The "moon roof" of my Mountain Hardwear Hamerhead 3 tent allows for almost 2/3 of the tent to be unzipped (leaving a mosquito net) which allows you to look out. I enjoyed the outdoors setting for a long time before going to sleep. Throughout the night I heard varying shift of the wind rustling through the trees as well as a few different animal sounds.
More on Day 2 in my next posting.
Initially I debated whether to start my ride on Wednesday or Thursday. Leaving on Thursday would have me riding the entire way to Dallas on the same day to get there in time for meetings set up on Friday. I would then continue the trip for longer during the weekend. The forecast showed a slight chance of rain on Thursday, so I chose my Wednesday departure instead.
As seems to be becoming the norm, my initial packing and getting started dragged on later than it should have. After doing some necessary work prior to my start and finishing packing it was nearly 11:00 am. By now, I decided I might as well have lunch at my favorite lunch place. Chipotle. This plan was coupled with my basic timing of not hitting the state park until evening.
After dropping off my mail and lunch I finally hit the highway. The route out of KC on Hwy 71 was pretty straight and fast. As in the past I was able to find a fast moving car to follow. In this case it was a contruction company pickup that was traveling 95 to 100 miles an hour the entire way to Joplin, MO. I was able to lay back and follow this truck the entire way with no police encounters. Passing through Bentonville and Rodgers was a little bit of a drag because of the traffic.
At Fayetteville, AR I cut through town in accordance with my plan to take AR-16 to connect to AR-23. I had not been on AR-16 before and wanted to see if this was a good route. This route took me through the main part of Fayetteville. While an interesting diversion (as I have not been to Fayetteville before) I really don't recommended it as a must see. It was between 4:30 and 5:00 pm now so I experiences a little traffic. I followed AR-16 to AR-23 finding that the AR-16 is just an okay road and I would not highly rate it for motorcycling. Once I connected to AR-23 (the "Pigs Trail") the riding got much better.
I had based my timing to arrive in Ozark, AR in time for dinner. I had read about Model Cafe on an internet motorcycle forum posting and thought it might be a good place to get something to eat prior to camping at Mt. Magazine. To my disappointment I found that the cafe was closed. I am not sure if it was just for the night or permanently. I rode around this very small town but did not find any other places to eat that looked interesting. Thus, I continued on south to Paris, AR. Paris is the last town north of the Mt. Magazine state park. I was confident that I could find someplace to eat there. Upon arriving in Paris, I decided that I wanted a relatively short dinner as I wanted to get to the state park before it was dark. I chose to eat at Subway. The food was uninspired, but it was pleasant to see a group of high school aged kids (friends of the employees working there) hanging out in the restaurant. Overhearing part of their conversations I was reminded that kids are kids no matter where you are.
I left the Subway and rode on AR-309 up the mountain to Mt. Magazine state park. While their is construction on 309 part of the way I was not bothered as the construction crews had already quit for the day and there was very little traffic. This stretch of AR-309 (Paris to Mt. Magazine State Park) is a very nice motorcycling road with curves, relatively good pavement, and scenery.
Upon reaching the state park, I made a quick pass through the campground to verify that it was full before heading to the Brown Springs picnic area. As I have posted before the picnic area is the designated spot for overflow camping. On arriving, I found one other set of visitors. This couple and their young son where finishing a late picnic and indicated they were not planning on camping. I set up my camping gear and then headed back to the campground bathhouse for a shower. Once again, the bathhouse was very clean and amenable. I spent a few minutes talking with other campers before heading back to my campsite.
When I returned to my campsite, the other visitors had left and I had the place to myself. This peace was only interrupted twice when a park ranger vehicle drove through (8:00 pm and 9:00 pm). The ranger did not stop or otherwise bother me. As my previous visit this campsite is very peaceful and relaxing. On this visit the cricket sounds where much louder. Also the sky was a little overcast. My only worry was whether it was going to rain. I chose not to put the rain fly over my tent and leave the "moon roof" unzipped. The "moon roof" of my Mountain Hardwear Hamerhead 3 tent allows for almost 2/3 of the tent to be unzipped (leaving a mosquito net) which allows you to look out. I enjoyed the outdoors setting for a long time before going to sleep. Throughout the night I heard varying shift of the wind rustling through the trees as well as a few different animal sounds.
More on Day 2 in my next posting.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Arkansas Motorcycle Trip - Day 4
Day 3 itinerary was Mt. Magazine State Park, AR to Kansas City (home)
I woke up from an awesome sleep at dawn (6:00am). The evening weather had been great and the morning I awoke to was temperate and nice. There really was not much to do. I was not properly equipped for hiking. But, the park appears to be a good candidate for a future trip to do some mountain hiking. After leisurely packing I head off north.
My plan was to head north on Hwy 309 and then connect up to Hwy 23 (part of which is known as the "pigs trail"). Hwy 309 north from the state park is a pretty nice ride. Unfortunately I hit one spot with a highway flag man only allowing traffic one way. Because they were just getting equipment to the work this stoppage lasted over 10 minutes. This was kind of drag as it had already warmed up. When I was allowed to continue I continued along 309 through the town of Paris, AR. This was somewhat ironic as I passed through Paris, TX the previous day and it the time of the Tour de France (of which I am a fan). Paris, AR is not really a remarkable town. From Paris, I connected up to Hwy 23.
Hwy 23, the Pigs Trail, is pretty well touted as an excellent motorcycle road. As I have ridden this road a couple of times before I am somewhat familiar with it. While a very curry road, it does have the drawback that there is some traffic on it. This includes logging trucks which can be a real drag. Fortunately with a fast bike there are some opportunities to pass. Besides the thought that the extra traffic is a drag, my second thought is that after a few days of mountain curves they get to be somewhat uninteresting. The analogy I will give is like a roller coaster. For several times it is very exciting and fun. Too much and it becomes a little monotonous. THen some time away and it can be new and exciting again. For me probably no more than two or three days at a time is plent.
My plan was to head up to Eureka Springs (a little over 100 miles away) and stop for breakfast. I arrived in Eureka Springs right around 10:00 am. Once again I have been to Eureka Springs a couple of times before. This highly touted town confuses me. There are many, many hotels and the town is a popular tourist destination. Bur every time I have been here, I really have not found that much interesting to see, do, or eat. Upon arrival, I cruised through the downtown shopping district. Not much appeared to be open of going on. I had eaten at an okay restaurant on a previous visit but it was closed. Eventually I just headed back to the main highway passing that passes through the town and stopped at a Subway for an early lunch. After a quick lunch, I stopped across the street to gas up my motorcycle. I chose to pass on this gas station when I realized that they charge 12 cents extra if you paid via credit card. This and there regular (cash) price was no lower than other gas stations. I chose to gas up at another station up the street.
Leaving Eureka springs and heading northwest was less pleasing as there was significantly more traffic. With the curves it is hard not to pass or end up being stuck by the much slower progress of cars and RVs on the curves. Shortly after passing into Missouri I has my one "pucker" moment. I had just passed a couple of slow moving cars and a RV when my radar detector lit up from a state police car. And yes I was going over the posted limit (for the pass :) ). On top of that I had to make the pass over a double yellow after following the caravan for some time. Very fortunately the state trouper either chose not to turn around or was impeded by the other traffic. I continued on at a normal clip. As an aside, I really hate to pass over a double-yellow line. In fact I very rarely do it. Generally it is easier to wait for a passing zone and then use the much superior speed of the motorcycle to make and easy and safe pass. The problem with being behind a an RV is double, first their progress on back roads can be extremely slow and also it can be very nervous to follow behind something where you have no chance to see what is ahead.
I followed Hwy 37 to I-44 (for a short length) to Hwy 71 North. As I had previously mentioned Hwy 71 is actually a pretty good divided highway. Passing and flow is not a problem. On this occaision (as generally the case on this road) I was able to follow a car that was traveling very fast. In this case it was a "soccer-mom" driving a small SUV. This women was traveling between around 95 miles an hour (70 mph limit) almost the entire way. I followed at a safe distance. Along the way I only noticed one police officer. Somehow the SUV women didn't get tagged as she had come up on some slower moving traffic.
Nearing Kansas City my bike was running on fumes as the low-fuel light had come on several miles back. Gas mileage on my bike can wildly vary and seems to be significantly affected by high speed cruising. Since I was close to home and my normal gas station I decided to chance going the whole way. To put this in perspective I have run out of gas once (while traveling). I have run my tank down very low on several occasion but still do not know the exact capacity of the tank. Because of wide variance in gas milage it may not matter that much anyway. At any rate, I made it to my "home" station and filled up. Peering into the tank it appeared that I was truely on "fumes" and would have not gotten much, if even, 10 more miles before running out of gas. After gas I made it home ending a very enjoyable trip.
I woke up from an awesome sleep at dawn (6:00am). The evening weather had been great and the morning I awoke to was temperate and nice. There really was not much to do. I was not properly equipped for hiking. But, the park appears to be a good candidate for a future trip to do some mountain hiking. After leisurely packing I head off north.
My plan was to head north on Hwy 309 and then connect up to Hwy 23 (part of which is known as the "pigs trail"). Hwy 309 north from the state park is a pretty nice ride. Unfortunately I hit one spot with a highway flag man only allowing traffic one way. Because they were just getting equipment to the work this stoppage lasted over 10 minutes. This was kind of drag as it had already warmed up. When I was allowed to continue I continued along 309 through the town of Paris, AR. This was somewhat ironic as I passed through Paris, TX the previous day and it the time of the Tour de France (of which I am a fan). Paris, AR is not really a remarkable town. From Paris, I connected up to Hwy 23.
Hwy 23, the Pigs Trail, is pretty well touted as an excellent motorcycle road. As I have ridden this road a couple of times before I am somewhat familiar with it. While a very curry road, it does have the drawback that there is some traffic on it. This includes logging trucks which can be a real drag. Fortunately with a fast bike there are some opportunities to pass. Besides the thought that the extra traffic is a drag, my second thought is that after a few days of mountain curves they get to be somewhat uninteresting. The analogy I will give is like a roller coaster. For several times it is very exciting and fun. Too much and it becomes a little monotonous. THen some time away and it can be new and exciting again. For me probably no more than two or three days at a time is plent.
My plan was to head up to Eureka Springs (a little over 100 miles away) and stop for breakfast. I arrived in Eureka Springs right around 10:00 am. Once again I have been to Eureka Springs a couple of times before. This highly touted town confuses me. There are many, many hotels and the town is a popular tourist destination. Bur every time I have been here, I really have not found that much interesting to see, do, or eat. Upon arrival, I cruised through the downtown shopping district. Not much appeared to be open of going on. I had eaten at an okay restaurant on a previous visit but it was closed. Eventually I just headed back to the main highway passing that passes through the town and stopped at a Subway for an early lunch. After a quick lunch, I stopped across the street to gas up my motorcycle. I chose to pass on this gas station when I realized that they charge 12 cents extra if you paid via credit card. This and there regular (cash) price was no lower than other gas stations. I chose to gas up at another station up the street.
Leaving Eureka springs and heading northwest was less pleasing as there was significantly more traffic. With the curves it is hard not to pass or end up being stuck by the much slower progress of cars and RVs on the curves. Shortly after passing into Missouri I has my one "pucker" moment. I had just passed a couple of slow moving cars and a RV when my radar detector lit up from a state police car. And yes I was going over the posted limit (for the pass :) ). On top of that I had to make the pass over a double yellow after following the caravan for some time. Very fortunately the state trouper either chose not to turn around or was impeded by the other traffic. I continued on at a normal clip. As an aside, I really hate to pass over a double-yellow line. In fact I very rarely do it. Generally it is easier to wait for a passing zone and then use the much superior speed of the motorcycle to make and easy and safe pass. The problem with being behind a an RV is double, first their progress on back roads can be extremely slow and also it can be very nervous to follow behind something where you have no chance to see what is ahead.
I followed Hwy 37 to I-44 (for a short length) to Hwy 71 North. As I had previously mentioned Hwy 71 is actually a pretty good divided highway. Passing and flow is not a problem. On this occaision (as generally the case on this road) I was able to follow a car that was traveling very fast. In this case it was a "soccer-mom" driving a small SUV. This women was traveling between around 95 miles an hour (70 mph limit) almost the entire way. I followed at a safe distance. Along the way I only noticed one police officer. Somehow the SUV women didn't get tagged as she had come up on some slower moving traffic.
Nearing Kansas City my bike was running on fumes as the low-fuel light had come on several miles back. Gas mileage on my bike can wildly vary and seems to be significantly affected by high speed cruising. Since I was close to home and my normal gas station I decided to chance going the whole way. To put this in perspective I have run out of gas once (while traveling). I have run my tank down very low on several occasion but still do not know the exact capacity of the tank. Because of wide variance in gas milage it may not matter that much anyway. At any rate, I made it to my "home" station and filled up. Peering into the tank it appeared that I was truely on "fumes" and would have not gotten much, if even, 10 more miles before running out of gas. After gas I made it home ending a very enjoyable trip.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Arkansas Motorcycle Trip - Day 3
Day 3 itinerary ended up being the Dallas to Mt. Magazine State Park, AR via the Talimena Scenic
The next morning, day 3 of my trip, I decided to leave Dallas and head back to Arkansas for some additional camping. By morning it appeared that my business contacts and friends was not going to pan out. This is my own fault for my last minute plans. Additionally, my brief stay in Dallas sort of made me think that I either needed to stay longer than a couple of days or plan better.
During my stay on day 1 I picked up a nice brochure on the Arkansas state parks. There are many and a few appeared interesting. The price of camping was right too. My plan was to basically reverse my trip for the second day (Talimena Scenci Byway to Dallas) and then continue on further to Mt. Magazine (The highest peak in Arkansas).
I started my day be waking up then eating off the continental breakfast at the La Quinta. I have commented in earlier posts about how disappointing continental breakfast at most hotels are. Well, the LQ was disappointing even by the normal standards. Nevertheless, I had a breakfast of some plain oatmeal and yogurt. After breakfast I leisurely packed, in case of call-backs from my contacts, and eventually headed off.
The ride along 121 up to Paris, TX was uneventful and a little more crowded on this Monday morning. I arrived in Paris, TX around 12:00 p.m. and decided to have lunch at a Subway. Unlike a lot of Subway restaurants I encounter, this was a standalone building the size of your normal McDonald. In my mind my turkey sub beat McDonald food anyway. I had finished my meal in less than 15 minutes and generally lounged around for 10 more minutes just to take a break. I have found that I generally go about two stops (150 miles between each) with a minimal stop for gas. These gas stop don't even have me getting off my bike.
After passing Antlers, OK Hwy 271 became an enjoyable ride without too much traffic. I then headed past Taiihina, OK onto the Talimena Scenic Byway (TSB). My second ride of this fabulous ride was just as enjoyable as the first. On this Monday afternoon (around 3:00 p.m.) I think I saw maybe 3 cars. One was a park employee vehicle which pulled over into the first outlook after I came upon him. This did not impede my progress. A second car I had to pass, which was no problem. The final car I saw was already pulled over in an outlook. I saw no police enforcement vehicles along the byway. Unlike my first visit where I got to to the Queen Wilhelmena State park via 271 to hwy 272 to the byway (bypassing Mena, Ar and approximately 14 miles of the byway) I continued to the east end of the byway at Mena, AR. Once again the TSB has different characteristics. For the most part is is mountainous with relatively fast corners (many!) with a few places of steep, tight corners. The eastern end was more of the tight corners. From Mena, AR I headed north up on Hwy 71. The 50+ miles of TSB took me a little less than one hour long.
Once again Hwy 71 in this part of Arkansas is a pretty nice, sweeping ride. On Monday evening I encountered some traffic, but not overbearing. I also encountered a very brief period of light rain. Apparently, it had rained a little harder earlier as several miles were wet. No problem as my normal riding gear is waterproof. I continued from Hwy 71 to Hwy 23 to Boonville, AR.
I stopped to eat at a McDonalds in Boonville. I had read that there was no place to eat at the southern of the Mt. Magazine byway in Havana, AR (which is true). I had not passed many restaurants and the towns along the way are pretty small. As Boonville is pretty close to Havana, I choose not to chance it. By now, I think it was around 4:30 p.m. After a short stop (20 minutes) I continued on. To my chargrin, I saw a Subway a half-mile down the road, but not any other restaurants. Oh well.
From Havana, I continued on Hwy 309 to Mt. Magazine State Park. The south end of 309 is steep, narrow, curving road. This was very similar to many mountain roads and was enjoyable and mild speed.
I arrived at the the Mt. Magazine state park a little after the visitor center and registration closed. In a phone call to the park that morning, an employee told me that if the park center was closed I shoudl just head to the camping area. Any sites not marked reserved were available. If no camping sties were available, the park allows overflow campers to camp in the separate picnic area.
I first visited the camping area. A quick drive around showed me that all the camping spots were already taken. After using the restroom facilities in the very clean bathhouse located in the camping area. I proceeded on. A little further up the road (less than a 1/4 mile) was another road which lead to several outlooks over the mountain. This road basically circled the campground but was far enough away that you could not see the actual campground.
After a quick look at the outlook road, I continued on along the park road. Maybe another 1/4 mile down the road (1/2 mile from the camping ground) I came upon the Brown Springs picnic area. This wooded area was pretty large but there were no other visitors.
From one of the overlooks:
I headed back out the main park road up to the park lodge just to see what it was like. I was very surprised here to find what appears to be a large first class lodge. I stopped and took some pictures of the entrance foyer, lobby, and from the back of the lodge which looks out from the top the mountain top. I then headed back to the picnic area to set up camp.
The Lodge entranceway:
The Lodge entry foyer:
Looking out from the mountain in the back of the lodge:
When I returned to the picnic area, I started to set up my camp. There was a single other vehicle which was just leaving when I pulled into the picnic area. Otherwise, I had the entire area to pick where I wanted to set up my tent. I choose to set up my tent right at the edge of the area next to a clearing in the trees that overlooked the side of the mountain.
Just on the other side of my tent, is the side of the mountain. My bike is about 30 feet from the tent:
You can barely make out my bike and tent in the very back of this next picture. This was from about 3/4 the width of the picnic area. I had the place to my self:
After setting up I rode back to the bath house for a nice shower. I then returned to camp to settle in for the night. Now, one thing about moto-camping is that you generally do not get too far from other campers. I have found that I am generally in campgrounds with other campers, vehicles, and noise. Contributing to this is that I am reluctant to park my bike somewhere as I hike to an out of the way campsite. On this particular instance, I got an awesome experience. The area where I camped is pretty forested and you can not see the main park road from the picnic area. I also had the entire area to myself. That evening until the time I left in the morning I did not hear a single other car or person.
After writing on my computer and some reading, I got into my tent for sleep. By now it was past dusk and I enjoyed the peace of just listening to the sounds and viewing thing though the "moonroof" of my tent. Later, after it got dark, I realized that while I expected the best view of the night sky was going to be out the "moonroof" side of the tent which faced toward the mountain side, the best view was the other direction (towards the picnic area). Fortunately my tent has a separate "window" on that side of the tent that I was able to open. As the night sky got darker, I was treated to one of those great views of the the thousands of stars that you can only get outside of the city lights. It was wonderful. At the same time, I listened to the many animal sounds that come with being out in the wilderness. This includes crickets, birds, and some other unknown animals. I did not get visited nor hear any bears which also inhabit the area. At first, being out alone, in this uninhabited area was sort of spooky. I was pretty confident that nothing bad was going to happen, but early on I was unable to sleep as I was in a semi-conscious state of alert. Later I fell asleep to easily my best sleep in a very, very long time.
The next morning, day 3 of my trip, I decided to leave Dallas and head back to Arkansas for some additional camping. By morning it appeared that my business contacts and friends was not going to pan out. This is my own fault for my last minute plans. Additionally, my brief stay in Dallas sort of made me think that I either needed to stay longer than a couple of days or plan better.
During my stay on day 1 I picked up a nice brochure on the Arkansas state parks. There are many and a few appeared interesting. The price of camping was right too. My plan was to basically reverse my trip for the second day (Talimena Scenci Byway to Dallas) and then continue on further to Mt. Magazine (The highest peak in Arkansas).
I started my day be waking up then eating off the continental breakfast at the La Quinta. I have commented in earlier posts about how disappointing continental breakfast at most hotels are. Well, the LQ was disappointing even by the normal standards. Nevertheless, I had a breakfast of some plain oatmeal and yogurt. After breakfast I leisurely packed, in case of call-backs from my contacts, and eventually headed off.
The ride along 121 up to Paris, TX was uneventful and a little more crowded on this Monday morning. I arrived in Paris, TX around 12:00 p.m. and decided to have lunch at a Subway. Unlike a lot of Subway restaurants I encounter, this was a standalone building the size of your normal McDonald. In my mind my turkey sub beat McDonald food anyway. I had finished my meal in less than 15 minutes and generally lounged around for 10 more minutes just to take a break. I have found that I generally go about two stops (150 miles between each) with a minimal stop for gas. These gas stop don't even have me getting off my bike.
After passing Antlers, OK Hwy 271 became an enjoyable ride without too much traffic. I then headed past Taiihina, OK onto the Talimena Scenic Byway (TSB). My second ride of this fabulous ride was just as enjoyable as the first. On this Monday afternoon (around 3:00 p.m.) I think I saw maybe 3 cars. One was a park employee vehicle which pulled over into the first outlook after I came upon him. This did not impede my progress. A second car I had to pass, which was no problem. The final car I saw was already pulled over in an outlook. I saw no police enforcement vehicles along the byway. Unlike my first visit where I got to to the Queen Wilhelmena State park via 271 to hwy 272 to the byway (bypassing Mena, Ar and approximately 14 miles of the byway) I continued to the east end of the byway at Mena, AR. Once again the TSB has different characteristics. For the most part is is mountainous with relatively fast corners (many!) with a few places of steep, tight corners. The eastern end was more of the tight corners. From Mena, AR I headed north up on Hwy 71. The 50+ miles of TSB took me a little less than one hour long.
Once again Hwy 71 in this part of Arkansas is a pretty nice, sweeping ride. On Monday evening I encountered some traffic, but not overbearing. I also encountered a very brief period of light rain. Apparently, it had rained a little harder earlier as several miles were wet. No problem as my normal riding gear is waterproof. I continued from Hwy 71 to Hwy 23 to Boonville, AR.
I stopped to eat at a McDonalds in Boonville. I had read that there was no place to eat at the southern of the Mt. Magazine byway in Havana, AR (which is true). I had not passed many restaurants and the towns along the way are pretty small. As Boonville is pretty close to Havana, I choose not to chance it. By now, I think it was around 4:30 p.m. After a short stop (20 minutes) I continued on. To my chargrin, I saw a Subway a half-mile down the road, but not any other restaurants. Oh well.
From Havana, I continued on Hwy 309 to Mt. Magazine State Park. The south end of 309 is steep, narrow, curving road. This was very similar to many mountain roads and was enjoyable and mild speed.
I arrived at the the Mt. Magazine state park a little after the visitor center and registration closed. In a phone call to the park that morning, an employee told me that if the park center was closed I shoudl just head to the camping area. Any sites not marked reserved were available. If no camping sties were available, the park allows overflow campers to camp in the separate picnic area.
I first visited the camping area. A quick drive around showed me that all the camping spots were already taken. After using the restroom facilities in the very clean bathhouse located in the camping area. I proceeded on. A little further up the road (less than a 1/4 mile) was another road which lead to several outlooks over the mountain. This road basically circled the campground but was far enough away that you could not see the actual campground.
After a quick look at the outlook road, I continued on along the park road. Maybe another 1/4 mile down the road (1/2 mile from the camping ground) I came upon the Brown Springs picnic area. This wooded area was pretty large but there were no other visitors.
From one of the overlooks:
I headed back out the main park road up to the park lodge just to see what it was like. I was very surprised here to find what appears to be a large first class lodge. I stopped and took some pictures of the entrance foyer, lobby, and from the back of the lodge which looks out from the top the mountain top. I then headed back to the picnic area to set up camp.
The Lodge entranceway:
The Lodge entry foyer:
Looking out from the mountain in the back of the lodge:
When I returned to the picnic area, I started to set up my camp. There was a single other vehicle which was just leaving when I pulled into the picnic area. Otherwise, I had the entire area to pick where I wanted to set up my tent. I choose to set up my tent right at the edge of the area next to a clearing in the trees that overlooked the side of the mountain.
Just on the other side of my tent, is the side of the mountain. My bike is about 30 feet from the tent:
You can barely make out my bike and tent in the very back of this next picture. This was from about 3/4 the width of the picnic area. I had the place to my self:
After setting up I rode back to the bath house for a nice shower. I then returned to camp to settle in for the night. Now, one thing about moto-camping is that you generally do not get too far from other campers. I have found that I am generally in campgrounds with other campers, vehicles, and noise. Contributing to this is that I am reluctant to park my bike somewhere as I hike to an out of the way campsite. On this particular instance, I got an awesome experience. The area where I camped is pretty forested and you can not see the main park road from the picnic area. I also had the entire area to myself. That evening until the time I left in the morning I did not hear a single other car or person.
After writing on my computer and some reading, I got into my tent for sleep. By now it was past dusk and I enjoyed the peace of just listening to the sounds and viewing thing though the "moonroof" of my tent. Later, after it got dark, I realized that while I expected the best view of the night sky was going to be out the "moonroof" side of the tent which faced toward the mountain side, the best view was the other direction (towards the picnic area). Fortunately my tent has a separate "window" on that side of the tent that I was able to open. As the night sky got darker, I was treated to one of those great views of the the thousands of stars that you can only get outside of the city lights. It was wonderful. At the same time, I listened to the many animal sounds that come with being out in the wilderness. This includes crickets, birds, and some other unknown animals. I did not get visited nor hear any bears which also inhabit the area. At first, being out alone, in this uninhabited area was sort of spooky. I was pretty confident that nothing bad was going to happen, but early on I was unable to sleep as I was in a semi-conscious state of alert. Later I fell asleep to easily my best sleep in a very, very long time.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Arkansas Motorcycle Trip - Day 2
Day 2 itinerary ended up being the Talimena Scenic Byway (Queen Wilhelmina State Park) to Dallas, Tx.
The previous evening I had pretty much decided to ride down to Dallas the next day, approsimately 300 miles away. The QWSP was a nice place to stay but did not offer any enticements that made me want to camp there a second day. Note, I would visit again but only as an overnight stop to the Talimena Scenic Byway. More about this in my day 3 trip report.
I woke up early, before 6:00am, but did not want to pack and leave as I figured that my motorcycle could wake other campers. Being Sunday, the campground was pretty quiet. As a personal aside. I am generally a morning person and do not mind waking up early. I actually like waking up early if I can start my day this early or earlier.
For breakfast I had an oatmeal-raisin bar and a can of cut grapefruit which I had brought from home. After using the restroom (once again noted as very clean and presentable), I broke camp. This did not take long and I was on my way around 7:20 am.
Very unfortunately, I choose to stop at the the QWSP lodge to get a flyer on the Talimena Scenic Byway I had seen the previous evening. The lodge is at the top of the hill a little higher than the campground. Initially I was rewarded with the site of the clouds below me on the mountain type. I decided to get a picture Unfortunately my camera was in my side pannier and my bike parked on it side stand on a little grade. Well, with the weight of my duffle with my camping gear (I guess) the bike started to fall over as I was opening the pannier cover. This is the awful moment that many motorcycle riders remember when the bike is falling over is slow motion but there is nothing you can do to save it because of the weight. I righted the bike and viewed the damage. To my dismay the right fairing and pannier cover were scratched very similar to the way there were after a slight accident on a previous trip. I had just got these same panel painted only a couple of months ago. Oh well, at least I know my painter can fix them, at a cost. My only problems is my impatience in waiting for the paint to be done and the cost.
The Talimena Scenic Byway is around 50 miles of curving and hilly road. The road is just two lane with very little shoulder but very well maintained. There are many scenic outlooks (paved area designed for vehicles to turn off and well marked) along the byway. I was able to blast along the road as I only saw a single other car (on a outlook turnoff) along the entire route on this Sunday morning.
The ride along the Talimena is very good and possibly the best motorcycle road I have ever been on. For any other riders reading this I will caution to use your good judgment and ride at your own abilities. There are some fast sections but at least one area has some pretty tight turns along with steep grades. The road leave no room for misjudgment. I make no claims to my riding ability, but I was able to enjoy the road at a very good pace and felt no need to really hang it out at a race pace.
After finishing the Talimena Scenic Byway in Talihina, OK, I turned onto Hwy 271 heading south towards Texas. Hwy 271 proved to be a road of the type that I probably enjoy the most. This two-laned highway was well paved (sometimes immaculately) with high-speed sweeping curves. Once again there was very little traffic along the highway on Sunday morning. Initially the road has some nice views of the mountains in the distance and then turns to some sweeping ranchland. Very appealing. 271 runs down to Antlers, OK. this stretch is very nice, enjoyable riding. From Antlers I road along the same road to Paris, Texas. There are a few kinks in the road at Antlers and Paris and I was glad to have my GPS unit to guide me. From Paris to Dallas I road on Hwy 82 then turned on Hwy 121. Both highways were fine if somewhat uninspiring riding. These roads had a little more traffic.
Along the way I stopped for a brief call to a friend who lives north of Dallas. I was very pleased to hear she was doing well, but unfortunately the timing was not great for me to stop for a short visit. I proceeded onto Plano, Tx (a suburb of Dallas) after leaving messages with a couple of friends about my impromptu visit to Dallas.
On arriving in Dallas I rode to my normal residence of La Quinta in Plano. I was somewhat surprised to find the hotel near the end of a large remodel. The clerks at the front desk were unknown to me but very nice. i was able to reserve a room but needed to wait until around 2:00 pm for a clean room to be available. Since I had to wait I requested the same room that I used to regularly get. For a couple of years this was basically mine and I probably stayed in it over 500 nights.
I left the hotel and had a leisurely lunch at one of my favorite restaurants, the Corner Bakery on Preston Rd. The food was the same (very good) and I was pleased to find unlike many restaurants lately they had not raised their prices. Still recommended. After lunch I visited the REI store which is across the street. While I did not buy anything I just like this store. The employees are friendly and it is a good place for outdoor equipment. I have been a member for a few years.
I returned to the La Quinta to check in. My room, now ready, was completely redone. I have to admit, while nicely done, the new style really does not appeal to me. I can only describe the room design and furnishings as slightly oriental. Interestingly the room (including the bathroom) has a bare wood floor.
After getting settled in I choose to do some exercises and then go for a run. This was along my noraml running route when I used to regularly stay in Dallas. My route had not changed at all. In fact the immediate area did not appear to be much changed from over a year ago. This is contrasted with the large amount of change I saw as I rode in (especially north of Plano).
This brings me to my somewhat philosophical aside. Part of my reason for my visit was that I had not returned to Dallas in probably over a year after it being almost my second residence for over five years. During my "sabbatical", I have been somewhat introspective in viewing my future plans. Occasionally with this has come some thought or beliefs (while not really important or earth-shaking) have some meaning to me. I may write about a couple here.
First, i have often been asked how I can (or least could) travel so much for work as I have done for at least the past 15 years. I have replied that I generally replied that I enjoyed the travel. Not only has it allowed me to experience many places all over the world, buy I have been able to live in somewhat separate lifestyles. An example of this has been enjoying the bigger city life of Dallas while still living and enjoying the more family friendly lifestyle of my hometown of Kansas City. My thoughts are though that you really do one or the other. If I stay in my home city all the time, I become more comfortable just staying in my home city with a few trips or vacations. When I travel regularly, I am more comfortable traveling almost constantly. One or the other becomes normal and I can not see someone trading off one or the other regularly. For better or worse I have chosen the travel-constantly over the past many years. An obvious connection many people make is that this inhibits making the the deep network of friends that staying in one place allows. The many different life experiences has been enjoyable and nobody can tell whether it has been worth the tradeoffs.
My second thought is how very populated Dallas is. While one of my favorite cities, this population, while contributing to the very best of the city, is now pretty overwhelming. On the positive side it is easy to meet people who have similar interests. The town never really slows down. From a living perspective, I am amazed how many subdivisions have been built. The "suburban palaces" while apparently normal homes have really separated the city. Nowhere I visited or viewed was not busy at any time. I really like the idea of the great job and career opportunities a city like Dallas provides. But at this point I would hard pressed to say I would like living here (Dallas).
Unfortunately my fiends I called were busy or unavailable. So I made plans to go eat at a restaurant I liked and then visit my regular bookstore hangout. Unfortunately, when I rode the restaurant I found that it had closed. So, I choose to go to another favorite and popular mexican restaurant, the Blue Goose. As usual the food was good and the place hopping. After dinner, I went the the local Barnes and Nobel and browsed for books. This illustrates my view on Dallas. The bookstore was very busy until close.
Now a politically-incorrect observation. In Dallas (at least Plano) the very-good looking, in general, women really put it out there. This is opposed to Kansas City which is very conservative in comparison. It is amazing how much the women flaunt their bodies. Note, I am not complaining!
After the bookstore, I visited the Whole Foods grocery store next door for some Peligrino water. I then returned to the hotel to view e-mails (short), plan the next day, and get ready for bed. Earlier I had left a couple of message for friends and business acquaintance (who are very much also friends). By now, I had planned to only stay in Dallas for the next morning unless I had gotten some definite plans. I had originally thought I might want to stay a couple of days. In afterthought, I decided it would have been better to have previously defined some meetings and plans. I had gotten enthused with the idea of visiting another Arkansas park (for camping) and also do a second round of the Talimena Scenic Byway (on my route to the next destination). More in the day 3 report.
The previous evening I had pretty much decided to ride down to Dallas the next day, approsimately 300 miles away. The QWSP was a nice place to stay but did not offer any enticements that made me want to camp there a second day. Note, I would visit again but only as an overnight stop to the Talimena Scenic Byway. More about this in my day 3 trip report.
I woke up early, before 6:00am, but did not want to pack and leave as I figured that my motorcycle could wake other campers. Being Sunday, the campground was pretty quiet. As a personal aside. I am generally a morning person and do not mind waking up early. I actually like waking up early if I can start my day this early or earlier.
For breakfast I had an oatmeal-raisin bar and a can of cut grapefruit which I had brought from home. After using the restroom (once again noted as very clean and presentable), I broke camp. This did not take long and I was on my way around 7:20 am.
Very unfortunately, I choose to stop at the the QWSP lodge to get a flyer on the Talimena Scenic Byway I had seen the previous evening. The lodge is at the top of the hill a little higher than the campground. Initially I was rewarded with the site of the clouds below me on the mountain type. I decided to get a picture Unfortunately my camera was in my side pannier and my bike parked on it side stand on a little grade. Well, with the weight of my duffle with my camping gear (I guess) the bike started to fall over as I was opening the pannier cover. This is the awful moment that many motorcycle riders remember when the bike is falling over is slow motion but there is nothing you can do to save it because of the weight. I righted the bike and viewed the damage. To my dismay the right fairing and pannier cover were scratched very similar to the way there were after a slight accident on a previous trip. I had just got these same panel painted only a couple of months ago. Oh well, at least I know my painter can fix them, at a cost. My only problems is my impatience in waiting for the paint to be done and the cost.
The Talimena Scenic Byway is around 50 miles of curving and hilly road. The road is just two lane with very little shoulder but very well maintained. There are many scenic outlooks (paved area designed for vehicles to turn off and well marked) along the byway. I was able to blast along the road as I only saw a single other car (on a outlook turnoff) along the entire route on this Sunday morning.
The ride along the Talimena is very good and possibly the best motorcycle road I have ever been on. For any other riders reading this I will caution to use your good judgment and ride at your own abilities. There are some fast sections but at least one area has some pretty tight turns along with steep grades. The road leave no room for misjudgment. I make no claims to my riding ability, but I was able to enjoy the road at a very good pace and felt no need to really hang it out at a race pace.
After finishing the Talimena Scenic Byway in Talihina, OK, I turned onto Hwy 271 heading south towards Texas. Hwy 271 proved to be a road of the type that I probably enjoy the most. This two-laned highway was well paved (sometimes immaculately) with high-speed sweeping curves. Once again there was very little traffic along the highway on Sunday morning. Initially the road has some nice views of the mountains in the distance and then turns to some sweeping ranchland. Very appealing. 271 runs down to Antlers, OK. this stretch is very nice, enjoyable riding. From Antlers I road along the same road to Paris, Texas. There are a few kinks in the road at Antlers and Paris and I was glad to have my GPS unit to guide me. From Paris to Dallas I road on Hwy 82 then turned on Hwy 121. Both highways were fine if somewhat uninspiring riding. These roads had a little more traffic.
Along the way I stopped for a brief call to a friend who lives north of Dallas. I was very pleased to hear she was doing well, but unfortunately the timing was not great for me to stop for a short visit. I proceeded onto Plano, Tx (a suburb of Dallas) after leaving messages with a couple of friends about my impromptu visit to Dallas.
On arriving in Dallas I rode to my normal residence of La Quinta in Plano. I was somewhat surprised to find the hotel near the end of a large remodel. The clerks at the front desk were unknown to me but very nice. i was able to reserve a room but needed to wait until around 2:00 pm for a clean room to be available. Since I had to wait I requested the same room that I used to regularly get. For a couple of years this was basically mine and I probably stayed in it over 500 nights.
I left the hotel and had a leisurely lunch at one of my favorite restaurants, the Corner Bakery on Preston Rd. The food was the same (very good) and I was pleased to find unlike many restaurants lately they had not raised their prices. Still recommended. After lunch I visited the REI store which is across the street. While I did not buy anything I just like this store. The employees are friendly and it is a good place for outdoor equipment. I have been a member for a few years.
I returned to the La Quinta to check in. My room, now ready, was completely redone. I have to admit, while nicely done, the new style really does not appeal to me. I can only describe the room design and furnishings as slightly oriental. Interestingly the room (including the bathroom) has a bare wood floor.
After getting settled in I choose to do some exercises and then go for a run. This was along my noraml running route when I used to regularly stay in Dallas. My route had not changed at all. In fact the immediate area did not appear to be much changed from over a year ago. This is contrasted with the large amount of change I saw as I rode in (especially north of Plano).
This brings me to my somewhat philosophical aside. Part of my reason for my visit was that I had not returned to Dallas in probably over a year after it being almost my second residence for over five years. During my "sabbatical", I have been somewhat introspective in viewing my future plans. Occasionally with this has come some thought or beliefs (while not really important or earth-shaking) have some meaning to me. I may write about a couple here.
First, i have often been asked how I can (or least could) travel so much for work as I have done for at least the past 15 years. I have replied that I generally replied that I enjoyed the travel. Not only has it allowed me to experience many places all over the world, buy I have been able to live in somewhat separate lifestyles. An example of this has been enjoying the bigger city life of Dallas while still living and enjoying the more family friendly lifestyle of my hometown of Kansas City. My thoughts are though that you really do one or the other. If I stay in my home city all the time, I become more comfortable just staying in my home city with a few trips or vacations. When I travel regularly, I am more comfortable traveling almost constantly. One or the other becomes normal and I can not see someone trading off one or the other regularly. For better or worse I have chosen the travel-constantly over the past many years. An obvious connection many people make is that this inhibits making the the deep network of friends that staying in one place allows. The many different life experiences has been enjoyable and nobody can tell whether it has been worth the tradeoffs.
My second thought is how very populated Dallas is. While one of my favorite cities, this population, while contributing to the very best of the city, is now pretty overwhelming. On the positive side it is easy to meet people who have similar interests. The town never really slows down. From a living perspective, I am amazed how many subdivisions have been built. The "suburban palaces" while apparently normal homes have really separated the city. Nowhere I visited or viewed was not busy at any time. I really like the idea of the great job and career opportunities a city like Dallas provides. But at this point I would hard pressed to say I would like living here (Dallas).
Unfortunately my fiends I called were busy or unavailable. So I made plans to go eat at a restaurant I liked and then visit my regular bookstore hangout. Unfortunately, when I rode the restaurant I found that it had closed. So, I choose to go to another favorite and popular mexican restaurant, the Blue Goose. As usual the food was good and the place hopping. After dinner, I went the the local Barnes and Nobel and browsed for books. This illustrates my view on Dallas. The bookstore was very busy until close.
Now a politically-incorrect observation. In Dallas (at least Plano) the very-good looking, in general, women really put it out there. This is opposed to Kansas City which is very conservative in comparison. It is amazing how much the women flaunt their bodies. Note, I am not complaining!
After the bookstore, I visited the Whole Foods grocery store next door for some Peligrino water. I then returned to the hotel to view e-mails (short), plan the next day, and get ready for bed. Earlier I had left a couple of message for friends and business acquaintance (who are very much also friends). By now, I had planned to only stay in Dallas for the next morning unless I had gotten some definite plans. I had originally thought I might want to stay a couple of days. In afterthought, I decided it would have been better to have previously defined some meetings and plans. I had gotten enthused with the idea of visiting another Arkansas park (for camping) and also do a second round of the Talimena Scenic Byway (on my route to the next destination). More in the day 3 report.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Arkansas Motorcycle Trip - Day 1
This weekend I decided to do some traveling on my my Ducati ST3 motorcycle. I was debating among three trips: 1. Drive down to camp on and ride the Talimena Scenic Drive in western Arkansas. 2. a semi-regular ride through Arkansas to Memphis, TN. 3. Another ride to visit the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC. This is one my top-rated places to visit in the U.S.
After a little thought, I choose the Talimena Scenic Drive trip. This is my day one report.\
I left on Saturday morning at 10:00am. The late start was because I did not get home on Friday night in time to pack. I figured my riding would not take me all day and I had plenty of time for the late start.
After packing (and finishing listening to my favortie radio program "Car Talk" on NPR), I headed off. My route had me heading south on Hwy 71 all the way to Mena, AR. There was a section on interstate 540 which basically parallels hwy 71 in Arkansas. The ride on 71 was uneventful and mildly pleasant. While the best distance motorcycling is on empty highways, I second this with divided, four lane highway with little traffic. I have found that I am growing to dislike heavily trafficked, back road, two-lane highways when there is too much traffic. It it too dangerous and mind-numbing to be continually passing vehicles on these two-lanes. Give me a more interstate divided-highway when these are the only choices.
My route took me past Bentonville, AR (home of WalMart) and the related Rogers, AR. The roads and development reflect the Wal-Mart presence. There was lots of traffic. Shortly after Rogers, I choose to head off IH-540 and back onto the mostly parallel hwy 71. Hwy 71 here is much more curving and goes into some mountains. This part of the ride was the most enjoyable. Part of this was probably due to the fact that since the Interstate was near there was very little traffic on hwy 71 here.
I finally stopped for a quick lunch around 2:00pm at my now well-liked McDonalds. This was one of my few options where I stopped (for gas too) unless I wanted to eat at the Subway which was part of the gas station. No thanks. While the food was the normal fare, I was at least pleasantly surprised that this McD was very clean. It reminded me of when I was a kid and you could count on McDonalds to be the cleanest restaurant when traveling. I compare this to the Kansas City area McDonalds which are generally pretty dirty and not well-kept.
At some point later I arrived (approximate 360 mile of riding) at Queen Wilhelmina State Park (which I will abbreviate QWSP) near the start of the Talimena Scenic drive. QWSP is high up on Rich Mountain in the Ouachitas National Forest. I checked in with at the visitors desk in the Lodge (as required) to get my assigned camping spot. After setting up my tent and unloading the motorcycle, I ventured off for some hiking. I basically hiked all the trails off the the state park area (probably 1.5 miles). This excluded the Ouachitas Forrest Trail which appears to run for hundreds of miles but is a more primitive back country trail. While hiking I did not see a single other person despite there being quite a few people at the lodge and in the camping area.
After finishing my hikes, I went to dinner at the lodge. The only real choice was the buffet which was acceptable but uninspiring. After dinner I went for another short hike, following a good habit developed with my daughter of going on some sort of walk after dinner.
After returning from my hike, I used the excellent camp bath house to take a shower. Unlike most peoples thoughts on camping I have found many camp sites to have excellent faciliities for cleaning up. After my shower I returned to my tent for some reading and bed. Since the weather was so good I was able to forego the rain fly and even leave the "moon-roof" on my new Mountain Hardear tent. Sophie and I chose this tent and so far it has rewarded us well.
Unfortunately, the problem with public campsites is that there is generally some human-made noise. I had met two motorcycle riding couples (from Texas) earliers. They described to me that they wanted to get faw away from the city. But, unfortunately, that evening it seemed like they made much of the noise (allbeit not too bad). Around 10:00pm it did quiet down pretty much.
Fortunately, I had no bear experiences. Several signs and people reported seeing bears in the area. The park employees did mention that nobody had actually seen a bear in the park (this year?). Probably because of the human noise.
I had a good sleep, with the ocaisonal, wake to slight rustleing (wondering bear). Somewhat eerie is the light reflections from other peoples campsites. Somethime these very much looked like someone or something was walking right outside my tent.
Unfortunately, my campsite was pretty well covered by trees. In a few places I could see the great starscape offered in the mountains.
While riding I had the thought that the Arkansas is a really untapped outdoor vacation delight. In many ways (excepting sking) it has some of the same attractions as Colorado with far fewer people and crowds. Another persona thought is after a while all mountains seem pretty much alike. In around the last year I have been fortunate to travel thought the Smokie Mountains, Rocky Mountains, various mountains in the southwest, and Arkansas. They are all enjoyable but in many ways similar.
After a little thought, I choose the Talimena Scenic Drive trip. This is my day one report.\
I left on Saturday morning at 10:00am. The late start was because I did not get home on Friday night in time to pack. I figured my riding would not take me all day and I had plenty of time for the late start.
After packing (and finishing listening to my favortie radio program "Car Talk" on NPR), I headed off. My route had me heading south on Hwy 71 all the way to Mena, AR. There was a section on interstate 540 which basically parallels hwy 71 in Arkansas. The ride on 71 was uneventful and mildly pleasant. While the best distance motorcycling is on empty highways, I second this with divided, four lane highway with little traffic. I have found that I am growing to dislike heavily trafficked, back road, two-lane highways when there is too much traffic. It it too dangerous and mind-numbing to be continually passing vehicles on these two-lanes. Give me a more interstate divided-highway when these are the only choices.
My route took me past Bentonville, AR (home of WalMart) and the related Rogers, AR. The roads and development reflect the Wal-Mart presence. There was lots of traffic. Shortly after Rogers, I choose to head off IH-540 and back onto the mostly parallel hwy 71. Hwy 71 here is much more curving and goes into some mountains. This part of the ride was the most enjoyable. Part of this was probably due to the fact that since the Interstate was near there was very little traffic on hwy 71 here.
I finally stopped for a quick lunch around 2:00pm at my now well-liked McDonalds. This was one of my few options where I stopped (for gas too) unless I wanted to eat at the Subway which was part of the gas station. No thanks. While the food was the normal fare, I was at least pleasantly surprised that this McD was very clean. It reminded me of when I was a kid and you could count on McDonalds to be the cleanest restaurant when traveling. I compare this to the Kansas City area McDonalds which are generally pretty dirty and not well-kept.
At some point later I arrived (approximate 360 mile of riding) at Queen Wilhelmina State Park (which I will abbreviate QWSP) near the start of the Talimena Scenic drive. QWSP is high up on Rich Mountain in the Ouachitas National Forest. I checked in with at the visitors desk in the Lodge (as required) to get my assigned camping spot. After setting up my tent and unloading the motorcycle, I ventured off for some hiking. I basically hiked all the trails off the the state park area (probably 1.5 miles). This excluded the Ouachitas Forrest Trail which appears to run for hundreds of miles but is a more primitive back country trail. While hiking I did not see a single other person despite there being quite a few people at the lodge and in the camping area.
After finishing my hikes, I went to dinner at the lodge. The only real choice was the buffet which was acceptable but uninspiring. After dinner I went for another short hike, following a good habit developed with my daughter of going on some sort of walk after dinner.
After returning from my hike, I used the excellent camp bath house to take a shower. Unlike most peoples thoughts on camping I have found many camp sites to have excellent faciliities for cleaning up. After my shower I returned to my tent for some reading and bed. Since the weather was so good I was able to forego the rain fly and even leave the "moon-roof" on my new Mountain Hardear tent. Sophie and I chose this tent and so far it has rewarded us well.
Unfortunately, the problem with public campsites is that there is generally some human-made noise. I had met two motorcycle riding couples (from Texas) earliers. They described to me that they wanted to get faw away from the city. But, unfortunately, that evening it seemed like they made much of the noise (allbeit not too bad). Around 10:00pm it did quiet down pretty much.
Fortunately, I had no bear experiences. Several signs and people reported seeing bears in the area. The park employees did mention that nobody had actually seen a bear in the park (this year?). Probably because of the human noise.
I had a good sleep, with the ocaisonal, wake to slight rustleing (wondering bear). Somewhat eerie is the light reflections from other peoples campsites. Somethime these very much looked like someone or something was walking right outside my tent.
Unfortunately, my campsite was pretty well covered by trees. In a few places I could see the great starscape offered in the mountains.
While riding I had the thought that the Arkansas is a really untapped outdoor vacation delight. In many ways (excepting sking) it has some of the same attractions as Colorado with far fewer people and crowds. Another persona thought is after a while all mountains seem pretty much alike. In around the last year I have been fortunate to travel thought the Smokie Mountains, Rocky Mountains, various mountains in the southwest, and Arkansas. They are all enjoyable but in many ways similar.
Grand Canyon Trip - June 2007
Last month, my daughter Sophie and I travelled to the Grand Canyon. After visiting and camping at the GC, we ventured to Santa Fe, New Mexico, so I could show her some of the local flavor, restaurants, and art galleries. We both had a wonderful time. I had thought about posting the details (which there were many), but for privacy reasons (hers) I decided not to. Sorry to my friends who would have found our adventures interesting.
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Concert for Diana - Rememberance
Today's Concert for Diana, made me remember what a sad loss to the entire world, Princess Diana's untimely death was.
Princess Diana was the definition of grace and class. The world would be much better with more people like her. She is fondly remembered and rightfully celebrated,
Princess Diana was the definition of grace and class. The world would be much better with more people like her. She is fondly remembered and rightfully celebrated,
Concert for Diana - Coverage Review
I had the opportunity to watch the Concert for Diana show on VH1 today. Well done. The show was musical acts separated by short video stories on Diana, Priiness of Wales. The show's TV announcers did a great job and avoided the often made error of trying to out do the concerts justifiably famous stars. VH1 shoudl be especially commended for presenting the concert commerical free.
In contrast, NBC, highlight presentation of the Concert for Diana tonight is an incredible embarassment to the network and presenters. Leading up to the concert, Princess Diana's son Prince William and Prince Harry have repeatedly discussed their disappointment in parties trying to cash in on Princess Diana's fame. This included many interviews on NBC. So it is inexpicable that tonight's much-hyped showing of highlights of the concert was overwhelming commercials. It felt like every minute of the show was interspersed wiht three minutes of commericals.
In contrast, NBC, highlight presentation of the Concert for Diana tonight is an incredible embarassment to the network and presenters. Leading up to the concert, Princess Diana's son Prince William and Prince Harry have repeatedly discussed their disappointment in parties trying to cash in on Princess Diana's fame. This included many interviews on NBC. So it is inexpicable that tonight's much-hyped showing of highlights of the concert was overwhelming commercials. It felt like every minute of the show was interspersed wiht three minutes of commericals.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Near Miss
This evening, while in the grocery store, I noticed a girl walk in carrying her motorcycle helmet. I thought to myself, cool, as the weather has been raining all day. This occurance was remarkable as I ride to the grocery store (near my home) and almost never see a fellow rider (much less a woman rider). Even I had not ridden today.
Well as I left the store, I glanced around to see if I could see her and maybe strike up a conversation. Well, sure enough I did see her, sitting on her motorcycle...finishing a cigarette. Bummer!
Well as I left the store, I glanced around to see if I could see her and maybe strike up a conversation. Well, sure enough I did see her, sitting on her motorcycle...finishing a cigarette. Bummer!
