Author Topic: My Sturgis and Crossing the USA 2010 Trip Stories (Read 837 times)

nomad · « **on:** August 25, 2010, 06:56:20 PM »

I guess I should start a separate topic for my own story! I hope you guys will learn something from my mistakes.

BTW. I am still writing my trip report, so I will add more story daily. Check back to see how I have been screwed up this time. Now, here it is!

My Sturgis and Crossing the USA 2010 Trip Stories

After many months of preparation for a new camper trailer (Lil-B Bunkhouse), and a brand new Harley Ultra Limited, I was, once more time, ready for the trip of the year.

I left the house early in the morning of 08/04/2010, about 4:45. It was not cold, but I still kept my habit, putting on leather jacket. The weather man said that there would be rain, but it seemed clear sky to me this morning. Hopefully, he would be wrong as this was his first prediction. This was the second time that I was heading north on I-95, because I had decided to see one of my best friends, who had shared the good and bad time in refugee camp more than twenty years ago. My new Ultra Limited had pulled the 600 lbs camper trailer in the first time smoothly on the flat road in Florida. I didn't want to ride too fast to conserve the gas mileage; 65 MPH was the average from my house to Augusta, GA.

Somehow, I'd always like to ride on I-95 more than the turnpike, as it was recommended by any MAPS services. It was getting hot quickly around late morning, and I took off the jacket before crossing the GA border. It had to be close to 100 degree, and I felt the heat coming upi from the black tar. I.arrived my destination about 4:30 pm as what I had expected. There was no special place from FL to GA in this kind of trip. Unless I had planned a short trip to a local famous spot in FL. I didn't take any time to take any picture; it is just my laziness! Sorry!

It was a very good feeling to see to good friend again. He was not a biker, and most of my friends were not bikers anyway! I felt a lot better after a cool shower, and we had a Thai dinner that evening. I had heard Augusta is a golf heaven, but there was no special event to me at this time.

Around 5:00 am on the next morning, 08/05/2010, I said "good bye" to my friend, and told him that I will try to ride through his town next year. Again, saying good bye is always a sad thing!
I got on the bike, and there I was on I-20 west in no time. i really didn't have a real planned route this time. My Zumo 550 was my planner.

It was warm enough that I decided to put on a long sleeve shirt instead of the leather jacket. I had to say that I really hate to ride through a big city, such as Atlanta, GA. I finally passed through the minded Georgia, and entered TN border around noon.

The weather had started to change from sunny to cloudy, and I had a feeling that I would go through "hell" one more time. It was around noon, and the temperature had reach close to 100� F. I still had 3 more days to get to my destination, Custer, SD. I was in the mixed emotion that whether it was a good idea to pull a camper trailer in this trip. The weight of the trailer, which was around 600 lbs, had been giving my new bike a hard time to pull itself uphill. On all the previous year, my speed was average of 75 MPH, but I had to keep it around 65 this time. There were many bikes passing me, and I hate the feeling of lacking the power to pull the trailer. I must do something after I got home.

Once again, I had fallen into the same mistake: packing too much. But then, as a "logical" guy, I have been always arguing with myself about anything. To let you have an idea of how much craps in my trailer, I will list as many items as I can remember as shown below:

An 120vac air-conditioner about 40 lbs
A propane heater about 10 lbs
A tools box about 25 lbs
A box of cooking accessories (burner, pans, plate, bowl, Espresso coffee maker, etc..) about 15 lbs
Several propane bottles about 5 lbs
Trailer awning set, about 15 lbs
A bag if clothing, about 25 lbs
2 motorcycle service manuals, about 15 lbs
Blanket/Pillow, about 5 lbs
1 bear electric fence, about 5 lbs
Night lamp, WD-40, Bungee cords, cable tights, about 5 lbs
My favorite Instant noodles, about 2 lbs
toilet paper, sleeping bag, a pair of sneakers, a pair of flip-flop, about 10 lbs

That should be it, unless I had forgotten something else. I would add to the list later. Ahhhh! I felt so heavy. What do you say?

To be continued...

nomad · « **Reply #1 on:** August 27, 2010, 01:44:31 AM »

Usually, I was very close to St. Louis, KS, but I was not even close to Nashville, TN this time.

RAIN! Yes, it was raining so hard that I couldn't even see the road in front of me. I turned on the flashers, hopefully that no one would run over me. I felt the trailer back there, and I really felt the struggling that my bike had to pull this over-loaded box.

I hate rain! I can take the heat, or the cold, but I hate rain, especially when it's hot!

I struggled with the rain for about two hours, stop-and-go, then I finally arrived Nashville at about 4:30pm. Normally, in any previous years. I rode until it was dark, and I had never stopped before 8:00pm. Not this time, I decided to find a campground, and my GPS gave me a KOA campground about 3 miles away. Sound good!
It was easy to find the campground, it was right there when I saw the big sign, KOA, then next to the sign was a big gate with a the word, campground. I pulled over in front of the front office, then it was so weird that there was a sign in front of the office, Two Rivers Campground. I was f***ed up!
The clerk of the Two River Campground told me that I was not the only one, there were so many people had come into the wrong gate when they'd thought that they were looking for the KOA campground.
The price was not that great. $32/night for a spot with water/electricity, but i was so tired to care anymore. Oh well! I didn't feel bad for the KOA, they should have a more distinctive gate.

This campground was not bad at all. Actually, I was the only little camper among all the RV around me, so there was not so much noise around me. One advantage about camping that I had learned is camping in an RV campground will give me more priority to use the bathroom and restroom, because most of RV people had their own bathrooms and restrooms.

There was several people who had come over to see my camper, which had a little A/c. I had to say that I was very please with the mattress that I had had upgraded with a 1.1/2" thick memory foam. My bed was always better than any bed in any hotel/motel that I'd stayed before.

Tomorrow would be a long day for me, because I was behind the riding plan. I prepared my dinner with a bowl of instant noodles, and I loved my propane burner. Within 3 minutes, I had a hot meal! I was tired, so I was lazy to run to the restaurant after the shower. Time to go to bed. the mattress was so firm, and the camper was so cool!

To be continued...!

steppenwolf · « **Reply #2 on:** August 27, 2010, 06:55:43 AM »

nomad · « **Reply #3 on:** August 27, 2010, 11:50:07 PM »

I'd told myself that I would ride as far as possible today!

It was 08/06/2010. Even though, I woke up around 4:30, but I left the Two River Campground about 6:00am. It took less than 2 minutes to set up the trailer, but I had spent more than an hour every time to repack everything. I hate this part the most.

The advantage of pulling a camper trailer was I could sleep almost anywhere, but I had learned on thing was, most of the campground had no one to answer the phone after 7:00pm. I had learned a big lesson about this later. It was warm today, and there was no rain. There were so many bikes heading to Sturgis, but there were also many bikes traveling in the opposite direction with me. I had heard many people wanted to beat the crowd, so they arrived Sturgis early a few days in advanced to enjoy all the rides in the bad-land.

Somehow, this dose not make any sense to me. If you really want to ride the bad land in SD and beat the crow, then you can ride to SD any time during the year. Why do you have to wait until August? Beside, I've found that riding with the crowd in Sturgis is so fun!

Anyway, the weight of the trailer had been haunting from the beginning. But then, I didn't feel bad at all, when I didn't have to pay a fortune for a hotel room, which I couldn't sleep in most of the time. People were so noisy in most of the hotel. So far, I had been struggling to enter into MO border. I didn't travel far enough as I had expected. I had planned to ride at least 400 miles, but I was not sure now. It was getting dark, and I realized that it might be a problem to find a campground.

I whipped out my cellular phone to do a search, and as my instinct had told me, all campgrounds were fulled. I remembered one of my friends had warned me that the closer to Sturgis, the hard to find a campground, and this had been the case.;0 I finally decided to find a motel, and I was in Columbia, MO at this time. Surprisingly, all hotels and motels were booked! What the hell is going on?, I told myself. Later, I'd found out that there was a rally in MO, and somehow I was in a wrong place at a wrong time!

It was nine, and I was still riding around looking for a place to sleep tonight. Damn it! What kind of country is it! I was complaining about the local state, MO. After many phone calls, there was a La Quinta hotel had a room for me, and I had to pay for my mistake - $150/night. Ouch! I'd never come back to the La Quinta Hotel in Columbia, MO.

I left the trailer attached to the bike, and locked both of them together with a trailer cable lock that I bought earlier in my local Home Depot. The hotel was filled with many bikers, and I was not sure what kind of rally in MO, but all of these bikers are black. Not that I am prejudice, but it was unusual to have a big group of African American bikers in the same place. it must be a coincidence!

I was so tired to care anything else. A shower was nice, and I slept with the alarm remote next to my pillow.

To be continued...!

nomad · « **Reply #4 on:** August 29, 2010, 11:43:28 PM »

I got up early in the next morning. it was still dark, but I couldn't sleep in the hotel with my new bike and trailer outside in the parking lot.

For sure, today I had to make to Custer as close as I can. It was warm today, but I always put on my jacket as a habit, and surprisingly, I had used the chaps more often than I'd thought.

God has created the leather to protect me and block the wind, and I am using it!

The road from MO, to KS, then NE was not really stiff, and this helped my heavy trailer very much. As I had estimated, the weight of the trailer had to be very close to 600 lbs, and it was an overload that my Ultra Limited could handle. Again, I was not sure about this, but nothing I could do until I got home. So far, the only modification that I had added to the bike was the FuelMoto power package (without the Tw6-6 CAM). the modification supposed to add more power, and eliminate the heat on the right side, which came from the right exhaust. I was not sure at this time.

One thing I had added to my "experience box" was the riding style while pulling a trailer. To conserve fuel, I had to keep the speed based on the capability of the bike at the moment. What I really meant was through the sound of the exhaust, the bike would tell me whether I was beating up her, or not. If the bike had enough power to accelerate, then it will increase the speed without changing the current noise. Most of the time, it depended on the level of the road. So far, the road was not too bad; my average speed was 65 MPH. Again, I wished I didn't put too much craps in my trailer.

I-24 W, and I was just about to enter NE., and the GPS had switched me to another route that I hadn't expected. I'd thouhgt that I would ride through Omaha, NE, but it was not this case. Turned out, I hadn't used GPS in many last trips, and the ATLAS map book was different.

To be continued....!

steppenwolf · « **Reply #5 on:** September 04, 2010, 10:10:04 PM »

:)popcorn is getting low..want more

nomad · « **Reply #6 on:** September 05, 2010, 04:13:06 AM »

It was about 4:30 in the afternoon, and I had no intention to stop riding at this time.

One thing, I had learned from another rider, who was also pulling a camper trailer about what he had done yesterday, when he found out that he couldn't find a hotel. I'd thought that was very clever idea; the fella and his lady had camped in the truck stop. Why didn't I think of that? Who would care about a little space in the truck stop, and especially at night any way? Good idea!

From the lesson yesterday, I was getting a little smarter to call ahead for a spot in a KOA campground in Sioux Falls, SD. At the time, I was about a hundred miles from the campground, so I had no problem to get there any way. The only problem that the direction had changed a little bit; I had to ride backward to I-80, if I wanted to see one of my friends, Lou Canick, in Omaha, NE, which I had promised to see him this time. I had stopped by to see Lou nine years ago, and there were many times, I had passed through Omaha, but for some reasons, I had to passed through this state.

I decided to see Lou, and it was also very close to dinner time anyway. It was wonderful to see Lou again. Too bad that Lou had some personal problems, so he had to give up on a touring bike, but I hope that was just a temperary. I "knew" Lou through a motorcycle forum more than ten years ago, and somehow, I knew he was a good guy.

We had a good dinner in a restaurant that I should have remembered the name, but I didn't. Getting old!:) Chit chat for a about half an hour, and I told Lou that I have go before it get dark.

Saying goodbye is always not a good feeling!

I got back on I-80 East, and arrived Sioux Falls about 6 pm. Sioux Fallls KOA was a big campground, but surprisingly, this was one of the best campground that I had had stayed. Very friendly, helpful employees. I was able to get the spot as I had wished, surrounding with all the RVs. I'd like to camp and pay for the RV spot, so I would have more space around me. I was glad that the shower, and the laundomat room was not too far away from my camper. After a shower, I washed and dried all dirty clothes that I had used in the last two days. I'd learned that two set of clothes was enough for a week, if I could wash them everyday, which cost me about $2.00 each time.

I decided not to eat out today, so I took out the propane burner, a small pan, a bowl, and a bag of hot-and-spicy instant noodle. the kind that I really like. Five minutes later, I had a bowl of hot and tasty noodle for my dinner. Because, my spot had water, so I washed all the dishes, and brushed my teeth right there. It had been a very warm day, plus a long ride that I'd pushed myself today. I was tired! Nothing better than my full size with a memory foam mattress at this time!

To be continued...

steppenwolf · « **Reply #7 on:** September 05, 2010, 07:59:10 AM »

Always great to see some one ya know while on the road by yourself,kinda recharges your batteries.
I have never pulled a trailer and know it is kinda new to you,are you feeling pretty comfortable with your out fit?
Waiting for the next report

Thanks for sharing.

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Author Topic: My Sturgis and Crossing the USA 2010 Trip Stories (Read 837 times)

nomad

My Sturgis and Crossing the USA 2010 Trip Stories

nomad

Re: My Sturgis and Crossing the USA 2010 Trip Stories

steppenwolf

Re: My Sturgis and Crossing the USA 2010 Trip Stories

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Re: My Sturgis and Crossing the USA 2010 Trip Stories

nomad

Re: My Sturgis and Crossing the USA 2010 Trip Stories

steppenwolf

Re: My Sturgis and Crossing the USA 2010 Trip Stories

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Re: My Sturgis and Crossing the USA 2010 Trip Stories

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