Geek who loves 2 bike

Just another example of how Macs and Mac OS X rocks!

I have been using my Mac successfully for over 5 years. I use and love iTunes and have never had any problems with it. This included linking to my 20gb iPod and iPod shuffle. But, the other day, I tried to start up iTunes only to be shown the dialog "itunes music library is locked". Several tries resulted in the same problem. But consistent with my experience of the Mac this was easy enough to fix (unlike my experience of file problems on a PC).

Problem
Can not start iTunes because of "iTunes music library is locked"

Correction
1. Copy iTunes database file "iTunes Library.xml" to a different location. I copied to a different drive.
2. Delete the original iTunes database file.
3. Start iTunes up. This creates a new empty iTunes database file.
4. Close iTunes.
5. Copy the original iTunes database file over the new blank iTunes database file.
6. Open iTunes. You data is restores as before.

Previously I searched the internet for a solution. The closest I found recommended "importing" the original iTunes database file after creating the new one. This did not work for me.

Cause
While I am not 100% sure of the event that precipitated this problem, I think it was a result of incorrectly removing my iPod shuffle. The shuffle is more sensitive to incorrect removals compared to a regular iPod. While I have removed the iPod shuffle without ejecting it before without this error, I believe some combination of incorrect removals and insertions caused this problem.

What could have been a traumatic or at least time consuming problem was easily corrected. While errors on the Mac seem to be few, this is an example of the ease of correction most of these errors have.

Well I began my final day awakening to, surprise, rain. When I began my motorcycle "wander" of the south I was unsure how many days I would travel or exactly where I would travel. But, I have found six days to be a good length for a vacation and was beginning to think about returning home. A major factor was that I had encountered rain for part of the day on every day of my trip.

The weather radar showed a storm front between me in Nashville and home in Kansas City. I was pretty sure I could not wait it out as I had no idea how long it would take for the storm front to pass through. I just packed up and headed out in the rain. I hoped I would find a Chick-Fil-A to stop and have breakfast at. No luck, so I just continued riding. My ride today would be entirely along the interstate highways. This is for two reasons. Given the length of the ride I wanted to make good time. Secondly, there really is no great alternate highways between the cities.

The first 100 miles of the ride were in rain. Fortunately after the rain the weather turned nicer and the temperature was not terribly hot. Later around 12:00pm I chose to stop in Mt. Vernon, Illinois for lunch and gas. I mainly hoped that I would avoid some of the lunch hour traffic as I rode though St. Louis later. Lunch was at Fazolis where I took about a 30 minute total break. After the stop I continued along the highway to St. Louis. I have to admit that there was plenty of traffic along the entire route. Fortunately I mostly kept at 80 mph. Right outside of St. Louis I got caught in a big traffic jam outside of downtown due to highway construction. I probably spent 40 minutes in 2 mph traffic. It was not fun but at least my Ducati behaved and had no overheating problems. I have a pretty high tolerance for heat otherwise I would have overheated. You know you are going slow when you can have a conversation with the person sitting in the truck next to you on the highway! If you have not seen it (I have many times) the sight of the St. Louis Arch is inspiring. I was going so slow I was able to snap several digital photos of it. I finally got moving and travelled as fast as I could to try to get out of St. Louis proper.

Just outside of St. Louis I made my third stop for gas. The traffic between St. Louis and Kansas City along I70 is always bad. Today proved to be no exception. As I pulled near KC, I was pleasantly surprised my low-fuel light did not come on until 190 miles. This is in contrast to the usual 145 miles till low-fuel light. I generally figure that I have no more than one gallon of gas (33-43 miles) left. I was able to get to my local gas station (206 miles) before I stopped for gas.

Ironically, the weather as I reached home at 6:00 pm was the nicest of my entire trip. It was mid-70 degrees with a clear sky. One of my observations of traveling is that you always appreciate you home location a lot when you return. If you do not, maybe you should think of moving. I had a great and very enjoyable trip. Even with the rain, the riding and special places I visited made it more than worthwhile. My total riding mileage for the was around 560 miles. The entire trip mileage was 2247 miles.

Today, I woke up prepared to visit the Biltmore Estate for a second day. I started my day with another mediocre breakfast at McDonalds. The advantage is the McDonalds was near my hotel and right outside the Biltmore Estate entrance. After breakfast I made a quick trip to a local drug store for some "personal lubricant" (more on that later).

I arrived at the Biltmore right before the 9:00 am stated opening. There were people ahead of me so I believe that actually allow people onto the property earlier. This morning I was given special motorcycle parking (yeah!). I spent the next two hours doing a more thoughtful tour of the Biltmore house. Yesterday I made a quick, but full pass of the house. This allowed me to focus more on the details today as well as gauge how much time to spend on each room. The Biltmore offers self-guided audio tours ($7) that accompany a printed room by room tour guide. The guide is very helpful but lean on information with one short paragraph describing the room. I chose to forego the audio tour and purchase a detailed guide book ($15) of the house. Beside containing much more information, the book is organized following the same rooms as the tour. I prefer reading to audio, and the book allowed me to go at my own pace rather than the narrators. I also found all the inside staff knowledgeable and asked them several questions. Once again I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the Biltmore. There are several things I would have like to do if I chose to spend more time at the estate (and will revisit in the future). It would be great to read a book or just meditate in one of the many splendid gardens. I would also like to spend an afternoon reading a book in courtyard outside the stables. Both of these activities would really give me a better feel of how it might have been in the early 1900's when the Vanderbilts where enjoying their estates. Finally, you could easily spend a day roaming the grounds (other than the gardens) like the deerpark and lagoon.

I left the Biltmore in time to make my 12:00 pm hotel checkout. By the time I had my motorcycle packed it was mostly cloudy. I rode to Robbinsville, NC in order to ride the Cherohala Skyway. The Skyway is another famed motorcycle road. The ride from Asheville to Robbinsville is a great ride in itself. I took Hwy 74, which has many high speed curves to Hwy 129, which has many curves, good pavement, runs along a river, and is just plain beautiful. As I pulled into Robbinsville for gas and a bite to eat it began to rain lightly. Fortunately, the rain stopped while I was having a quick lunch at Wendy's.

The Cherohala Skyway road is pretty much everything it is famed for. The road is a curving, climbing, and descending wonder perfect for motorcycles. Additionally on this weekday (Monday) there were few automobiles. I might have been more impressed with the mountain top views had I not visited many awe-inspiring mountains in the Colorado mountains earlier this summer. Since the sky was mostly overcast, I choose not to stop for pictures.

After leaving the Cherohala Skyway I headed to the interstate to ride to Nashville. After the earlier 160 miles (100 miles to Robinsville and 60 miles of skyway) I found the change of pace of the interstate satisfying. The advantage of the interstate is that you can go at a relatively high speed with less worry about speeding tickets. About 30 miles from my Nashville destination it began raining very hard. I stopped for gas and to confirm my hotel reservation. Then there was nothing to do but ride in the rain to my hotel. Of course about 5 miles from the hotel it was dry and not raining.

The La Quinta (near the airport) that I stayed at was a disappointment. Rather than a traditional La Quinta, this hotel was a converted Baymont hotel (the chain La Quinta purchased earlier). The hotel was run down and not located in that great a spot. Interestingly when I asked for recommendation for a good place to eat I did not really get a good answer. I then asked for the location of the bookstore. The only one they could tell me was the "Borders" in the Opry Mill mall and gave me directions. According to the hotel staff the mall was about three miles from the hotel.

After cleaning up I headed for the mall (to pick up a book to read and dinner). After taking a detour because of the poor directions given, I found the mall as I figured it would be near Opryland. The mall was more like 10 miles away. Had I known it was that far I might have chosen to drive to the main entertainment center (downtown) of Nashville. This mall is huge with many restaurants. The bookstore ended up being a very large Barnes and Noble (equally favored by me with Borders). After being unable to find a book I wanted I picked up the latest copy of Motorcyclist magazine to read at dinner. I then chose to eat dinner at Tony Romas. I have had pretty good meals at Tony Romas in the past although somewhat overpriced. But on this day I was disappointed to find the menu has changed (for the worse). In addition the service mediocre to poor. After dinner I rode home just in time to avoid another torrential downpour.

With the visit to Biltmore and the excellent motorcycling offsetting the rain riding I finished a very satisfying day with a little more than 400 miles of riding.

I awoke to after a full night of rain. Fortunately it was not raining when I woke up. My first plan was to find breakfast. I found that the continental breakfast at the hotel was nonexistent. Additionally I wanted to visit a bookstore to get a new book to read. I has located a Barnes and Noble nearby the previous night. So I left on my bike to find breakfast. Although there were many restaurants in the area I did not see any breakfast places. Imagine my surprise when after a little while I spotted a Chick-Fil-A (one of my favorites). Hmmm...no cars in the parking lot. Oh yeah, it's Sunday and all Chick-Fil-A are closed on Sundays. Bummer. I settled on McDonalds. After breakfast I drove to the Barnes and Noble. Bummer 2. They open at 12:00pm. Nothing left to do but go back to the hotel, finish packing and leave.

One of the reasons for staying in Chattanooga was so that I could ride a famed road (Hwy 129) in Tennessee nicknamed the "Tail of the Dragon". After driving about 90 miles (I think) I came on the road. While a fantastic motorcycle road, my enthusiasm was tempered by the fact that the road was very crowed. Imagine the crowds in the "Fast and Furious" and you will get an idea. There were hundreds of motorcycles with crowds at every pull off and many on the road (all going fast). The few cars and trucks on the road slowed things up until people made passes (crossing the double yellow line). Although I was pretty fast on the 12 mile sections there were several (that I saw) experienced riders who were way faster and smoother. One enlightening experience is when I let a group of 8 bikers past. The first six were very fast and I would have been past or at the edge of my abilities to keep up. But the two trail riders were slower than I would normally be. I was riding to my own abilities. Fortunately they all made some aggressive passes of a slower moving car. I waited a little for a better spot to pass. By the time I made the pass I was able to ride at a good clip before catching up to them again. Overall I am glad I can say I have ridden the "dragon". But I would not recommend doing it on a weekend.

I much preferred the roads after the "tail of the dragon". The continuation of Hwy 129 is a great road. For me, equally good was Hwy 78 (both near Nanatala) and later toward Asheville. The first part near Robbinsville is winding and well paved. The latter part is high speed sweeping turns on four lane divided highway.

I made it to Asheville around 3:00pm. After checking in and cleaning up I headed to a restaurant that I remembered from a previous visit, Barleys Taproom and Brewery. Here I had a very good calzone. I also did a quick drive around downtown. Asheville is a very "granola" type a town. I saw a fair amount of people dressed like (and several who smelled like) transients.

My next event was to visit the Biltmore Estate. I had learned that tickets purchased after 3:00 pm were good for the next day. This was great for me as I wanted to visit both days but am too cheap to pay the $42 daily entrance fee (even though it is worth it). The main house closes at 5:30. I was able to arrive by 4:00 pm.

The Biltmore is an amazing experience. I spent the first hour and half going through the house. This was more of quick pass as I knew I was returning the next day. I then spent the next hour and half walking the gardens and all the garden trails. There are at least a couple of miles of landscaped gardens. Incredible. One great plus of visiting late on Sunday is that by the time I left (the estate closes as dusk) I almost had the place to myself. When I got to the entry end of esplanade (which is probably 200 yards deep) I was the only person in sight in the entry. This was a wonderful feeling. The only disappointment is that my camera battery was done (after taking hundreds of pictures). Another disappointment is that you are not allowed to take photographs in the house. It would take me too many words to try to explain all the details of this place. I will note that the drive on the estate "approach road" is a couple of miles long (as well as the exit via a separate road). These roads are entirely contained by the property. Visit Biltmore Estate. The Biltmore should be a must visit place for many people. I would recommend at least a couple of hours for the interior and another couple of hours for the gardens at a minimum.

After leaving the estate I stopped by a Starbucks just outside the entrance for a drink and snack. Now after a partly cloudy but dry afternoon the skies became dark and threatening. I headed back to the hotel to end my day.

The day started with more rain. I awoke after a night of thunderstorms to additional rain. Since it was raining and I did not know of a breakfast place worth getting wet for I stayed in. I have been neglecting exercise for the past week so I took the opportunity to do a short yoga/stretch routine. This was good as it helped get the kinks out. Afterwards I enjoyed (sarcastic) a breakfast of yogurt and tea from the sparse continental breakfast.

My plan was to visit the Barber Motorcycle museum again. The museum opens at 10:00 am. By the time I got packed and the rain had let up, it was 11:00 am when I got to Barber. There was more motorcycles in the parking lot today but mine was the only sportsbike. Lots of Harleys. I finished seeing the exhibits in the museum two hours later. One disappointment is that I did not get to go to the first floor where several sports cars and classics are exhibited and the workshops are. Apparently this floor (which can be viewed from above) is generally closed to the public. I had noticed people down there the day before. Apparently, the staff opened up the floor because of the threat of rain (on Friday). I wish I had taken the opportunity on that day but I just figured I would cover it when I returned on Saturday. I can only repeat that the Barber motorcycle museum is incredible. I think a interested party needs about four hours to go through the museum. In hindsight one full day would have been good (versus my two half-days). I would recommend getting there in the morning, viewing the motorcycles, leave for lunch, and then finish the day. There is no way to recreate the astonishment of the first day. There is so much that it is hard to take it in.

After leaving Barber my plan was to ride the interstate to Chattanooga, TN. This approximately 180 mile trip would set me up for riding the famed "tail of the dragon" motorcycle route on my way to Asheville, NC the next day. Given all the rain I did not want to commit to a longer ride. This proved fortuitous, as I had a couple of sections of rain along the ride. At least the temperature stayed bearable.

I hit my low fuel light as I pulled into Chattanooga. My GPS implied that I only had 12 miles to go to my destination. I kept going. I then found that I had a little farther to go. By this time I was not seeing any gas stations. Lesson to self: Just stop for gas early. Well after sweating it, I got to my exit and found the first gas station. After fueling up, I went to my hotel, checked in, and got cleaned up. By now I was very hungry so I headed to dinner. Dinner ended up being pretty good at a restaurant called Logan's Roadhouse. After dinner I went to Target for some quick shopping. As I left Target, it began to rain. I got back to the hotel right before it really started hammering down.

Nothing to do but read and go to bed.

Today's itinerary was to ride from Memphis, TN to Birmingham, AL to visit the Barber Antique Motorcycle museum.

I woke up after a night of rain to find that it was raining moderately hard. What to do but to suit up and ride the Blue Plate Cafe for breakfast. Breakfast was wonderful as it has been every time I have visited this restaurant. The food is good and the service is polite and pleasant. For me, the Blue Plate Cafe is the perfect breakfast experience.

I returned to my hotel and packed up for the trip. Because of the rain and no effort to be speedy, I left the hotel around 9:30 am. Within a mile of the hotel, it stopped raining (but the streets were still wet). I decided I wanted to attach my Valentine V1 radar detector (V1) so I could make some time while it continued to be dry. Well as soon as I attached it, the V1 flashed some light (like a normal startup) but then the screen went blank. Not good. I called Valentine's technical support line. They could not give me much information but to say they doubted the V1 was broken and that it was probably a bad wire. I decided to do some troubleshooting. Since the V1 was getting power, I doubted it was a power problem. The V1 uses an unusual arrangement with a telephone wire (4 pin) going from the power block (12v) to the radar detector. Fortunately, I had a spare cable (for my computer modem). I tried this and the V1 worked fine. It was relatively simple to wire the telephone cord from under the seat where I have mounted the V1 power block to the radar detector on the screen. This was great news as I am reliant on the Valentine V1 now and did not want to do the rest of my miles without it.

While I was working in the parking lot of a convenience/gas store, Phil came up to talk to me about my Ducati. Apparently, he has a Ducati 900 Supersport and a Triumph Sprint ST both of which he wants to sell for a Ducati sports tourer like mine. He was very interested in my experience with the bike. We had a nice talk. While the fix would have been about 20 minutes (including waiting on Valentine) with the conversation I left about 45 minutes later.

My route was to take Hwy 78 the entire way with the exception of a section where the highway ends prior to restarting. Earlier at the Blue Plate, the host asked me if I was planning on riding 78 or taking the alternate route of Hwy 75 to Hwy 65. The alternate route is like taking two sides of a square versus cutting across the diagonal. I planned on taking 78 as on a motorcycle you do not always take the Interstate and did not think much of it. After many miles of speed cruising along hwy 78, my GPS indicated that I should exit and take a back highway. I had recalled from perusing the map the section where you exited Hwy 78 and dutifully followed the GPS. Sometime this wandering has pleasant surprises. After gassing up (with a 36 mpg average), I continued along some beautifully paved two-lane road. In one of those moments, my iPod Shuffle randomly played Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" as I was happily riding these road. That was the good. Probably 40 miles later, I reconnected with Hwy 78. Here I came to recall the cliche of crooked politicians and "pork-barrels". Hwy 78 (a four lane divided road) proceeded to be 30 miles of stoplights. Both side of the street were crowded with miles and miles of gas stations and fast-food restaurants. I have always said riding a motorcycle is better than a car because driving is always fun rather than "just getting there". This 30+ mile stretch of road may have been the first time I did not enjoy riding my motorcycle. It was almost bumper to bumper and just miserable. I vowed, no matter what, that I would not ride this road again even if means many mile in the wrong direction to avoid it.

I finally got to Birmingham and my hotel around 3:00 pm. After checking in and a quick clean up i headed for the Barber Museum. The museum is around 16 miles from my hotel in south Birmingham. I got to the hotel around 4:00 pm. The museum is unbelievable. I had read magazine articles about the Barber Motorcycle museum, but they do not do it justice. There a hundreds and hundred of incredible motorcycles. Everything from antiques to modern classics. In addition there are many significant race cars and sports cars. The museum building is a five story architectural delight. I spent the two hours to closing enjoying the exhibits and learning quite a bit of motorcycling history. I was unaware that Ignaz Schwinn (of bicycle fame) also owned the storied motorcycle mark, Excelsior. Almost every motorcycle brand is covered from Ducati to Harley and the Japanese marks. If I had to guess the largest collection are Ducati or MV Agusta. But with hundreds of bikes no make is left out. At closing I had made up my mind I would be visiting again the next day. If you visit, plan to spend an entire day. I would estimate that four hours would be good.

After leaving the museum I was very hungry so my priority was to find a good place to eat. There is big galleria mall a few miles from my hotel with many restaurants nearby. I chose to dine at a J. Alexanders. The J. Alexanders in KC is one of my favorite places for an upscale dinner with excellent service. While the Birmingham restaurant's food was equally good, the service was not memorable.

After leaving dinner I rode around looking for a coin-operated car wash where I could wash my bike. While I never wash my bike with a pressure washer, my bike was getting filthy. I had asked at the hotel and restaurant but nobody knew of a car wash. I am not sure how people wash their cars in the South (as I had the same problem finding a place in Memphis). Finally many miles down the main drag (Hwy 31) I found a single coin-operated car wash. I performed a quick wash down of my bike (at the exorbitant price of $2.00). But at least I had piece of mind.

I then road home, taking Riverchase Pkwy which my hotel is located on. Riverchase Pkwy is a divided four lane, winding road with many corporate office located on either side. There is very little traffic on it. If not for the several stoplights this would be the Muholland Drive of Birmingham as the curves are quite fun. By the time I got back to my hotel the skies were threatening again.

Today was the first day of my current motorcycle trip. I am on my way to the Barber Motorcycle museum (Birmingham, AL) and decided to repeat my ride from two weekends ago "Ride and Eat" to Memphis, TN.

Thus, the first day's plan was to travel from KC to Memphis. I got an early start (because I was already mostly packed) and left for my trip. Part of the plan was to ride some of the great motorcycle roads in southern Missouri and Arkansas on my way to Memphis.

Well the first "event" occurred approximately 50 miles outside of Kansas City when I realized that it appeared that I was heading directly into bad weather. Ominously, it also appeared that there was bad weather in the southeast where I was heading.

Just outside of Springfield, Mo, my low-fuel warning light came on (at 146 miles). Some readers will recall that I ran out of gas on my last trip in this almost exact same situation. I was not taking chances this time and stopped at the next gas station. I figured out my gas mileage average for that tank was 36.4 mpg. I pretty regularly average 42 mpg (highway). This is a fifteen percent difference in mileage and may account why it is sometimes hard to figure out how far I can ride on a tank. To make things worse (to calculate), on one leg of this trip I average 49.6 mpg!

Right before I stopped for gas it started pouring rain. I got drenched. Although the rain let up a little after my pit stop, fellow traveller indicated that another thunderstorm was heading in. I elected to take off and hope that I would ride out of the storms. Heading into Springfield, I almost decided to "slab" it (take the larger interstate highways) to Memphis rather than my previous plan of twisty, back-roads. But, the sun came out and I continued on my original route.

The curves along Hwy 160, AR Hwy 5, and AR 62 among other were wonderful. There were a couple of rain showers along the way but nothing too bad. Because of the likelihood of rain I made more stops then normal. I did not want to be hunting for gas in a hard rain. My second stop was in Mountain Home for gas and a bite to eat (Wendys). It sucks that I pretty much avoid fast food but end up eating it on my trips. Eighty seven miles later I decided to stop in Batesville, AR to change helmet shields and gas up. I had been swapping between a clear and tinted shield all day. It looked like it was going to rain again so I was switching back to clear. I also am trying to stick with name brand gas stations.

Just as I pulled up to the fuel pump in Batesville, it began to rain VERY hard. I gassed up under the canopy and then walked into the convenience store to get a Gatorade (and wait out the storm a little). A few minutes later I walked out to get my helmet which I had left on the fuel pump. The rain was blowing so hard that my motorcycle was getting drenched by the driving rain which was being blown under the roof. Just as I reached the fuel pump I caught my helmet which was actually being blown off the top of fuel pump by the wind. Back inside the store I met a nice, older couple from Iowa who said they had motorcycled in all 50 states (including Hawaii). A little while later the rain slowed down enough that I took off. I ended up riding in a good rain for at least 50 of the next 100 miles.

Eventually I arrived at my destination in Memphis. By now it was partly overcast but with temperatures of over 100 degrees. After checking in and cleaning up I headed to Corky's BBQ for dinner.

Well my great dinner (Dry Ribs and later Apple Cobbler) proved that my last visit was no fluke. The meal was very good.

I then headed back to the hotel after a short reconnoiter for a place to wash my bike (filthy from the days rains). By now the skies where threatening and the wind was very gusty. My moving average speed today was 59 mph versus 69 for the similar route last time. Additionally, even though I left much earlier than last time, I arrived later. Good thing that I am on vacation and taking things in stride. Despite the rain, an enjoyable day.

Equipment report:
My gear (Belstaff jacket, Gerbings pants, Dainese boots) kept me dry even in the hard rain. I am really enamored of my Dainese D-Dry boots. They really work for keeping my feet dry.

The Garmin Quest 2 GPS was no worry in the rain as it is waterproof.

Unfortunately, my Valentine V1 radar detector is not waterproof. While my mounting location (on the windshield) allows me to keep using it in monderate rains, I take it down for hard rain. As other have noted, this is not a big hardship as I really am not speeding in hard rains. But I have really become reliant on it and put it up as soon as it starts to dry up.

My Avon Azaro tires (new) continued to perform admirably in the wet. There is also nothing like having new, sticky, rubber for carving corners in the dry.

Question: Why do people wash their bikes right before they go on a motorcycle trip? Seems like the bike will get dirty anyway with rain and long miles. But wash my Ducati is what I did. Actually, I am pretty anal about keeping my bike clean anyway. Really wasn't dirty but never hurts to put on a extra shine.

Well it finally happened, my Apple Powerbook G4 Titanium (TiBook) failed. Several days ago, I found that my Powerbook would not boot correctly after being powered off. After some troubleshooting I found that if I unplugged it, took at the battery, and then reset the PMU (power management unit), and most importantly waited 20 minutes, the Powerbook would start normally. No other combination worked. Once started the Powerbook would operate normally either on battery power or on AC.

Those of you who know me know that I rely on my trusty Powerbook. This situation was irritating but does illustrate that the Powerbook did not leave me cold. It does work with the cumbersome sequence described above. Additionally, I rarely turn my Powerbook off, relying on the excellent "sleep mode" which performs very well. After some additional research I believe that I will need to replace the motherboard. This is an expensive proposition. So on to option 2.

Option 2 is to begin to use my backup TiBook. For business reasons I have a duplicate of the my main Powerbook (1Ghz, 1GB ram G4 Titanium). I have been very reluctant to use this machine as it is pristine with no scratches or wear. One big different from my main TiBook is that the backup only has at 60GB hard drive (as I had upgraded the main one to 100 GB). The hard drive upgrade was necessitated because I have way more than 60GB of data. Well the answer is simple, I switched out the hard drives in the Powerbooks.

I am now happily using the second Powerbook G4 without missing a beat. All my data and settings work perfect.

One of my favorite ways to describe and ideal motorcycle adventure is “like breakfast in Memphis”. This only begins to make sense when you know that I live in Kansas City and Memphis, Tennessee is 500 miles away. Well this Sunday I decided to put my illustration to truth. I decided to literally ride from Kansas City to Memphis for breakfast. Now, given that Memphis from Kansas City would take at least seven hours my plan was to ride out, spend the night, eat breakfast then next morning, and then return.

The Ride Down

I started my trip on Sunday morning after confirming that the weather was going to be acceptable. I don’t mind some rain but did not want to get caught in hours of thunderstorms. Fortunately, the weather looked good but hot. I finally got off around 7:50am. Despite good intentions, I generally cannot seem to get started early despite being up much earlier.

The first event in my adventure occurred about 10 miles outside of Springfield, MO, when ran out of gas! What a dumbsh**! Here is what happened. At 136 miles on the trip odometer, my Ducati ST3’s low fuel light came on. In the past I have counted on having a little over 1 gallon of fuel when the light comes on. I generally get around 40 mpg from my motorcycle. Lately I have been following a internet thread discussion of the mileage and warnings on the Ducati ST models. This may have factored into my going a little long after the low fuel light. Generally on my bike, the low fuel light comes a little later (more mileage). Well I pushed my luck and ran out of gas with 176 miles on the trip odometer. The bike sputtered about twice and then just quit running. Traditionally on motorcycles a little gas remains in the tank. By swooshing the gas around you can eek out a few more miles. No go on the ST3. The gas tank was bone dry. I stopped in the median on the side of the highway and called AAA. After a wait to talk to a customer service person and a switch to AAA Missouri, they indicated that someone would be out within 45 minutes. In the meantime, a fellow motorcycles (Ray riding a Honda ST1300 and pulling a trailer) stopped to help. Ray said he did not have any extra gas in his trailer but that he would ride up to the next gas station and try to get a can. Approximately 10 minutes later Ray returned with a 2-gallon can and some gas. It really is great how the motorcycling community takes care of one and another. After calling AAA to cancel my emergency call I rode to the next (and same) gas station and filled up.

At this point, I rode on. My hastily planned route took state highways and avoided interstates. The ride mileage was around 470 miles. Approximately 160 miles later my low fuel light came on again. This time I choose to stop at the next gas station. Unfortunately this was a small local station (that even had the old, non-digital gas pumps!). Here I got held up for $3.39 a gallon. I filled up and continued on. A short while I felt a bite by a wasp or bee on my left hand. This was in the small area between my jacket and glove. Unfortunately while riding I couldn’t swat the insect away before being bitten a couple of times. Damn, I then realized I had forgotten to bring any Benadryl. While generally I do not have any problems, I have had a couple of experience (down South) when I have had an allergic reaction to bug bites. One time my hand swelled to approximately the size of a softball. This would be a real problem when riding. I then decided to stop at the next drug store or grocery store to purchase some Benadryl. Unfortunately, none came for awhile. Fortunately, my wrist did nothing more than itch and sting some. I ended up not stopping.

The last third of the ride to Memphis was curving roads. This was the most enjoyable part of the ride down. Sunday traffic was light so I only needed to do a little passing to stay away from cars and trucks.

Once in Memphis, my Garmin Quest 2 GPS routed me to my hotel with only a couple of recalculations base on my making wrong turns. Total mileage down was 480 miles with a moving average of 69 mile per hour.

Dinner

Well a significant part of the trip is to enjoy some good and different meals. After determining that the world-famous Rendezvous Restaurant (BBQ) is closed on Sundays and Monday, I decided to visit Corky’s (another well known Memphis BBQ place). An added benefit is that Corky;s is about a quarter mile from my hotel.

After cleaning up and changing clothes at the hotel, I rode over to Corky’s. Getting close to the restaurant, I found the streetlights were not working. I pulled into the almost empty parking lot. Several Corky’s employees were in the front of the restaurant. I pulled up to find that they had no electricity. But the manager indicated that there were two more Corky’s restaurants around 11 miles away and offered to write the addresses down. He went in to get a card to write the addresses down. As he was writing the power came back on. This ended up being fortunate for me. I was one of the first to be seated. Before I finished my meal, the place was packed. I had the dry ribs dinner. These were an excellent example of Memphis-style BBQ (dry) versus Kansas City-style (wet) barbeque. A great meal.

On the way back, I filled my motorcycle with gas and explored the immediate area. Besides many restaurants, I found a cool Borders bookstore.. While all Borders carry the same books, this one was differentiated by a two story high atrium and skylight in the middle of the store.

Returning to the hotel I parked my motorcycle in the front drive right in front of the front desk window. The manager at check in indicated that they would keep an eye on it. This was unsolicited by me and an example of the generally excellent service I receive at the La Quinta hotel chain. I got to bed early and slept well after a good days ride.

Breakfast

I awoke at 6:15am the next morning and soon rode to the Blue Plate Café. This restaurant was the focal point of riding to Memphis. Like Corky’s the night before this restaurant is about a quarter mile from the hotel. I have visited this restaurant before and had excellent breakfasts. On weekends the restaurant is very busy. This Monday morning I had no problem getting in even thought the parking lot was mostly full. For breakfast I had a omelet (ham and cheese), biscuits and gravy, and pancakes, and of course iced tea (unsweetened for me please!). The biscuits are wonderful, the service is very good, and everything tastes like an excellent home-cooked meal. The entire (albeit short) stay in Memphis I had enjoyed fine down-south hospitality. The Blue Plate was no exception and I highly recommend it.

The Ride home

After breakfast I returned to hotel, packed my stuff, and checked out. Once again in ended getting on the road around 8:00am. The evening before I had loosely plotted a return route. This route would take me on some smaller backroads in Arkansas and hopefully allow me to ride some the great motorcycling roadsmaintained in Arkansas.

Getting out of Memphis was no problem despite being late rush-hour on a Monday. After some time on interstate 55, I turned onto Arkansas highway 14. This turned out to be a fine motorcycling road that was immaculately paved and contains some good sweeping turns. The road had very little traffic and I enjoyed it well.

From hwy 14, I got onto hwy 69. This road (also immaculately paved) is wider and contained many great high-speed sweeping turns. So far I was in motorcycling heaven.

I stopped for gas a little early but mainly to get a Gatorade to keep hydrated. I also learned from the previous day. This stop was at a name brand gas station where gas was $3.00 a gallon.

A little later I rode on hwy 5. This is a road I remember from previous visits. While the road would be a good motorcycle road I have found it contains too much car traffic to be really enjoyable. This trip I found no difference. The traffic was not heavy, just enough to dampen my enthusiasm some.

Later yet I got on hwy 160 (in Missouri). This illustrates the great difference between Arkansas and Missouri roads. Although Missouri has some great curving, roads, they are generally poorly paved. In contrast, almost all the roads I have found in Arkansas are perfectly maintained and paved. Hwy 160 has some good sections and some not so good sections. In general, the riding on 160 is very good and takes you through some curving mountain roads.

From there it was onto interstate 55 into Springfield, MO. Just outside Springfield, my low-fuel, light came on. Not wanting to make the same mistake as the previous day, I stopped at the next gas stations. The temperature was over 100 degrees, so I choose to re-hydrate by finishing my Gatorade. After a quick gas-up, I took off for the final leg off.

Throughout the trip I had seen few police cars. The exception was the last part of Arkansas on the way down where I saw several people pulled over. Apparently, Arkansas highway patrol focuses on the main travel routes and patrol heavily. Just north of the Springfield (Bolivar, MO.) I came screaming up the highway to see a cop car parked in the weeks. Fortunately, my Valentine 1 radar detector lit up and I got on the brakes to slow down. I wasn’t sure if I got slowed down enough, but the police car did not come after me. (woo, good break, or is that “good brakes”). A little later I came up on my first accident of the trip There were several police cars and fire engines. Traffic was slowed but not stopped so I quickly got past it.

My GPS calculated that I would arrive at home around 4:44pm. The last part of the trip is major highway and not all that interesting. Just outside of Kansas City I was starting to get thirsty. As explanation, I must carry a lot of water in my body and do not seem to need to drink as much as others. Even on hard bicycling rides or runs I do not need near the amount of fluid as generally recommended. But, because of exercise (especially biking) I realize when I need to drink. Around 30 minutes outside of KC and I am thinking I need to drink some more. While wishing that I could just make it and stop for dinner on my return (I hadn’t eaten since breakfast), smarts overruled me. I stopped a quick shop and got another Gatorade. Once finished, I felt better hydrated. The rest of ride was uneventful with me just beating the evening rush-hour traffic.

A couple miles from my beloved Chipotle, the low fuel came on at 180 miles. What a contrast to coming on at 136 miles. Back in KC I was comfortable that I would not run out of gas. I had an enjoyable dinner at Chipotle and filled up right before returning home.

Conclusion

The ride home was almost exactly 500 miles (500.6 when I stopped at Chipotle). My “micro-vacation” was excellent with good riding, good eating, and some relaxation. While not willing to stop for many pictures, I learned that I should be more careful about carrying my camera at all times. I would have liked to have some more documentary pictures (like of the restaurants). I had my camera but had left it at the hotel each time. The trip was an excellent example of the enjoyment of motorcycle travel. In a car, events at the destination are almost the exclusive point of the trip. On a motorcycle, the riding becomes and important event in the trip.

Equipment Report

Garmin GPS (Quest 2)
Basically a must have for motorcycle travel. The GPS allows you to focus more on riding than watching the map and highway signs. It also makes it easy to explore alternate roads since you know that you can easily find your way back on course.

Added benefits are accurate measurements including speed, trip statistics (top mph, average time, distance), etc.

iPod shuffle
Another mandatory item for my motorcycle travel. Long, boring stretches would be overwhelming without music. The iPod shuffle has excellent battery life and can be operated while traveling (even with my gloves on).

Etyomic ER6i earphones
Attached to my iPod these have dual purpose. First the earplugs significantly reduce the noise while riding. Importantly they provide excellent fidelity for the music. So far the best earphones I have found Someday I would like to try them with custom molded earpieces. The optional small foam plugs have been working quite well so far.

Valentine 1 radar detector
My apologies to K.W, who originally recommended this to me. Originally I suggested a radar detector was not necessary. I was wrong. Motorcyling goes hand-in-hand with higher speeds. The V1 has worked exceptionally good and saved me many times. Another item I would not leave home without.

Belstaff Jacket
My Belstaff motorcycle jacket continues to perform admirably. While no jacket is going to be comfortable (temperature wise) in 100+ degree weather, the Belstaff is pretty comfortable. I saw many riders without jackets (most Harley riders) but just felt safer wearing a jacket.

Gerbing motorcycle pants
Like my Belstaff jacket these heated pant are my all-weather riding pants. Even though wired for heat they are comfortable enough for summer riding (where you are going to be hot with gear on anyway). It is nice to have one pair of riding pants that are waterproof, okay for hot weather, and will save your bacon in the cold.

Reebook hot-weather compression underwear
Another clothing accessory worth the money for hot weather riding. So far the best solution for hot weather riding I have found so far.

Arai helmet and shield
My Arai Corsair RX-7 helmet continues to perform well when riding. While still noisy (as all motorcycle helmets are, the helmet is comfortable no matter how long the ride. All functions (including the visor and vents) work well when riding.

For daylight riding I use an Arai dark-tinted shield. This shield protects my face from sunburn (versus wearing glasses under a clear screen). The shield is supposed to be UV protecting but Arai’s web site offers little information. Regardless the shield offers great optics while keeping the many bugs from hitting you in the face.

Lee Parks deerskin gloves
These gloves are my exclusive motorcycling gloves. They continue to hold up and wear well over thousands of miles.