May 6, 2007 Drenched trip into Omaha

May 6, 2007

Today I lay around when I woke up and listened to the rain. And listened to the rain. And listened to the rain. Tomorrow I have to be in Omaha.

The bad thing about packing up a tent in the rain when one is riding a motorcycle is that there is no place to put stuff to keep it dry. I pack everything in waterproof bags, but the tent, my sleeping bag and a few other things including the seat on my motorcycle get totally soaked. It is hard to keep my clothes dry.

I get up, start to pack while it is still sprinkling. Then, it starts to pour. I pull on the pants to my rain gear but the rain still pours in whenever I have to bend over to reach down to stuff my tent in the bag or pull out the tent stakes. I think about putting on the jacket to my rain gear, but rain gear is a mixed blessing. I can smolder inside the rain gear, get overheated and become drenched by my sweat, or I can become drenched by the rain.

I decide to be drenched by the rain, pull out a dry shirt and jacket to travel in, put them in a plastic shopping bag and keep on packing up.

About the time I finish packing up, the rain starts to slow down. By the time that I get on my dry shirt and my rain jacket, it is pouring once again. I have to wait a bit to start as it is raining too hard for me to ride and be able to see.

The rains coming across Kansas last night were vicious and I am going to end up catching some of them. As I head out to St. Josephs, Missouri, it is hard to see. The rain is stinging my cheeks as I slowly head down the road. Even the cars are going slowly. I stop and get some gas in St. Joseph and continue to head up towards Omaha.

A little north of St. Josephs, the rain slows some but the sky still looks alarming and while my body is not totally soaked, the rain is still running out of my boots and drenches the floor around me as I sit in McDonalds and grab a burger. I call a friend in Lincoln, NE and ask her if it is raining. She says yes. I decide to stop and relax and drip some more. After all, it sounds like rain all the way. I might as well take my time.

Instead, as I am leaving the restaurant in Mound City, Missouri, it looks like I am going to be able to catch a break. The rain is abating and judging by the cloud cover, if I travel fast, I will be able to beat some of the rain. I flex my shoulders and get ready to hurtle down the road, once I hit some dry pavement.

A little south of Omaha, I pull off my rain jacket and put it under the cargo nets that hold some of the loose gear to my bike. How absolutely awesome. I pull out the directions to the first hotel and find out about some camping areas for later on in the month.
I check in the hotel and spread out my gear to dry. The newer Holiday Inn Expresses have washers and dryers. The older more formal Holiday Inn’s often don’t have this feature. I can’t find a washer and dryer at this Holiday Inn. The parking is really crowded here, there definitely isn’t enough. I think about parking on the sidewalk, but find a parking space and decide to take it as I can see my bike from my room.

I fall into bed for a couple of hours, riding in the rain, trying to see is harder than regular riding. Later I get up and go eat in the restaurant.

Happy Trails, Marty

May 5, 2007

I got up late. I seem to need to sleep in a lot these days. It has a lot to do with stress.

After looking at the maps last night and running the weather to check for rain and storms I decided to move over to the Missouri Lewis and Clark State Park. There were a lot of sites vacant, probably due to the rains that are due in tonight.

There is no way that I am going to be able to entirely miss the rain, but by planning my moves, I can try to minimize it. Here’s to hoping that I can outsmart or outrun the weather. Running the weather on the Internet helps, but a lot depends upon how savvy I am about reading how the clouds work and where the road heads into the clouds. Fogg Toggs rain gear is great.

The ride over to Lewis and Clark was short and kind of funny. I tried to follow my map. I got off at the exit that it showed would lead to an access road that would lead to my destination. No, really, I do know how to read a map.

When I first got off, there was a restaurant that had a couple of nice ass Harleys sitting right by the door. I hoped to meet them and talk as it looked like a couple. They happened to come out just as I was going in. We started to talk and I found out that they didn’t do much traveling but hoped to do more in the future.

There are a lot of people who buy a Harley and do some weekend riding. Right now I am glad that I have decided to travel even if it means being on a cheaper bike. I like my Vulcan. It rides and moves out great. It is easy to handle. I do wish that I had a bit more room on it. <grin>

I went in the restaurant to eat, came out, strapped on my helmet, eyed the road, thought about asking for directions--then said to myself, the map shows a road that goes through.

Well, the road did go through, but not to where (and how) it said. The pavement ended and I ended up on gravel. The scenery was spectacular, but I don’t really like to ride on gravel. I have had a couple of bad experiences with it while doing bicycle riding. Gravel is how I broke my teeth in the third grade. LOL

I carefully rode through the gravel (beautiful day isn't it?)for a mile or two, found another blacktop road, looked around and thought, well this does head in the general direction that I wish to go, put the bike in first and took off.

Went through the town that the park is supposed to be near and didn’t find anything. Now, in a small, rural town, I can easily be the thrill of the day. It is spitting a bit of rain, but not enough that I want to don my rain gear so I get my fair share of allotted, she must be totally nuts looks.

I grab my map, head in the wrong direction and have to turn around and head back again. (Why didn’t I buy that gosh darn bulky WalMart atlas?) I find the sign and the road. Pull in and pick the site.

After I put up my tent and sign in to the campsite I smile and head on over to (front shot of the Lewis and Clark garden by the Museum)

the Museum in Atchison, Kansas. Amelia Earhart grew up in Atchison. Somehow I think that Amelia and I would enjoy each other. She seems to be a really neat person. I don’t get over to her birthplace, but hope to do so in the morning.

In the museum was a great printing press. I would like to have a printing press at some point in my life, one kind of like this one.

There was a neat post about the stuffing of a ballot box in one of the elections. I tried to take a pic of the post, but the exposure in the museum was really terrible. There was a glare from every angle. The post said something that something like over half of the votes cast were illegal votes. That is a lot.

The other thing to do in Atchison has to do with trains, as in the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe railroad,

I love trains. I enjoy riding them and watching them. My dad had Lionel Trains when I was growing up. We often had a track that we could run them on. In fact, when I left home, the family home gained a train room.

At five, I headed back to the campground, and tried to light a campfire, the wood was damp and it took forever and every skill that I had to start the darn fire. Now smelling like smoke and stinking to high heaven, I cooked some meat on a stick, had some salad and stretched out by the fire.

The noise in the background wasn’t a train, around nine it started to pour, thunder and lightning crashed, and I started to hope that I would stay dry. Let me put it this way- it was a heck of a lot better experience than the one that I had on the Trace. I got some sleep and read a book when it was too loud for me to sleep. I didn’t get soaked, but a lot of my stuff got damp.

Happy Trails, Marty

May 4, 07

It's been a while since I have posted. I have lots of reflections.

On the trip to DC that I posted about, I stayed at a Marriott Hotel. I had some luggage that was going with me over to the office and asked for them to call a taxi. Instead, since the limo was sitting empty, they sent me over in it.

I didn't get a long enough ride, LOL, but it was longer than it was supposed to be as the driver got hopelessly lost, had to backtrack and I sat back listening to the music.

Since I posted last, I used my parents house as a home base, went home, home to see my grandkids for a couple of weeks. Is this the right thing to be doing at this point in their lives? I'm not sure.

The trailer that I bought (My Blue Heaven) is still at my parents house. I have had problems with both a hitch and a liscense plate. Both can be straightened out, but I decided to back off and take a look at the problem from a distance.

Dropped by my brothers house and we had a wonderful chance to talk. We really don't know each other. I left home when he was seven, made my parents upset, was handed several precious antiques to haul around the world with me and toted them to Germany, Oklahoma, Michigan, etc. Now they are in storage. I have been back a couple of times, but because of htings that have happened, haven't had the best relationship.

We talked about our parents. Our lives. That kind of thing.

I started back on the road yesterday. It was sprinkling rain when I left, but by the time I got to Macon, Missouri, it was nothing but sunshine and blue skies. It was a beautiful day to just cruise and that is what I chose to do, riding first through the rocky bluff areas that surround the Mississippi River near where I spent the last six years I was at home, through some flat prairie lands, then on to rolling hills dotted with cows, some sheep, and a few hogs.

I was headed over to Saint Jo, but decided to stop in Cameron. I stopped for gas and decided that it looked like it was a nice little town to stop in. I rode around it for a bit and found a place to stay.

My body is a little stiff this morning as I it has been a while since I rode with a load and I have to get back in shape.

Today is looking like I can't pack my raingear away. Bummer. LOL

I don't mind riding in the rain, but decided to not go with a full face helmet for the summer as it was just too hot. That means that the rain can batter my face a bit if it is falling hard. I can always slow down to lessen the force and sometimes choose to.

I am headed over to Lewis and Clark state park to camp tonight. I will enjoy it greatly.

Happy Trails, Marty