Ride from Champaign to Seattle

[p_s]

(Comments, suggestions, criticisms appreciated.)

Day 1: Saturday, May 3, 2008
Start: Champaign, Illinois
End: Dubuque, Iowa
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=...1.178654,-89.719849&spn=4.522566,8.942871&z=7

My plan was to be on the road at 8:30. That is not such an early start, but I am not an early riser. I hardly slept the night before and woke up too early. I ate breakfast, drank a few espressos, tried to relax, and stepped outside. It was sunny, there was just a light breeze, and it looked like it would be a good day to start my trip to Seattle. I started loading up my saddlebags around 8:15. I had mounted them empty a few days prior to gauge how to go about it, but fully loaded they were far less manageable. Finally around 8:45 I kissed my wife goodbye (after she took this photo) and hit the road.

As soon as I got out of town, the wind picked up. I looked at the weather history later, and it seems I had been riding into a 20 mph headwind with 30 mph gusts. That would explain why when I tried to pass someone, I'd downshift two gears, roll on the throttle to the stop, and nothing happened. Not long after that that the sky darkened, the temperature dropped, and I got very cold. I pulled over at a gas station and put on a sweater, neck gator, balaclava, and the anti-fog insert in the helmet. I also noticed that one of the buckles on my new saddlebags had broken--when you put 65 liters of gear in 60 liter saddlebags these things happen.

I felt warmer and continued. On a bridge 95 miles from home, the bike suddenly sputtered. Normally I get 110 miles or more before I hit the reserve tank, but of course that is without a constant headwind. On the '85 GS550ES, there is a silly door in front of the petcock that cannot be opened with gloves on, so I pulled over, turned the petcock to prime, muttered to myself for a few minutes while the bowls refilled, turned the petcock to reserve and carried on. I decided then to leave the petcock on reserve for good, since I was carrying a gallon of gas on the rear rack. My destination this day was GSR member Skreemer's house in Dubuque, Iowa, and I was making awful time.

I arrived at the Quad Cities around 12:30. Dubuque was about another 120 miles, so I thought I would arrive at 2:30 instead of the hoped-for 2 o'clock, which is not too bad. Then I encountered a detour on US67 which wasn't signposted properly and I became slightly lost. Meanwhile my speedometer stopped working and my bike had an awful tapping noise at low road speeds. I pulled over to check it out and found nothing. Eventually I found my way, got out of the Quad Cities, and then encountered small town after small town all the way. However now that I was in Iowa, there were trees and hills and turns, the weather had turned warmer, the wind had died down, and I was feeling good. The view of the Mississippi River on my right also helped. Around 4 I finally arrived at Skreemer's.

We quickly unloaded my bags. Then I ran up to my bike and saw that all four exhaust flanges had come off the heads and had a sinking feeling in my stomach. I'd spent weeks going over every part of the bike and on the first day it was already falling apart. Maybe this trip was a bad idea. Then Skreemer mentioned that he'd had an impossible time keeping the exhaust headers clean on his aftermarket pipes and it occured to me that I was looking at his bike and not mine. Our bikes do have a passing resemblence:

Then he took me on a tour of the countryside around Dubuque (Skreemer, maybe you can fill in the route--I lost the first page of it). Needless to say, I will be back. The northern two thirds of Illinois may be as flat as a pancake, but Iowa is not.

After a 2 hour ride and dinner, we got home and went to work on my bike. It turns out the upper end of the speedo cable had simply come loose--the square end rotating against the speedometer housing was the cause of the tapping sensation at low speeds. Skreemer also looked at my neglected, rusty chain and gave it a good clean & lube while I pulled the fairing to reattach the speedo cable. We also discovered that one of my carburetors had begun to leak gas at the float bowl gasket. I had packed several tiny screwdrivers, but naturally they were all too long or too short. We went off to Wal Mart looking for one of those angled screwdrivers that look like Allen-head keys. They had none for sale individually, so we bought some screwdriver drill bits and managed to tighten the float bowl screws a little bit. It didn't stop the leak but slowed it down considerably.

I went to sleep on a mattress on the floor in the basement and slept more peacefully than I had in weeks.

 

[Craiger]

Nice. Looking forward to more.

It's easy to see how quickly you would have gotten confused looking at those bikes side-by-side.

 

[basic]

sounds like a good trip so far. I know the area of IL you are talking about and it is just as boring as you say. I can't tell you how many times i've driven from Quincy IL to Springfield and peoria...nothing interesting in the middle but the IL river. The Drive next to the Mississippi is great, I get to drive next to it any day i want.

 

[skreemer]

for those that want a look here's leg1...

Here's the second part of the trip, much more boring but by this time neither of us had eaten for most of the day and we still wanted a look at Paul's bike to see what needed fixing.

 

[jadesystem]

Hello,

I was referred to your post from someone who posted on my thread.
I'll be keeping abreast of your progress as you make your trek to
Seattle. You'll see my thread regarding a 3-month 48-state nationwide
tour of America I plan to do within 3 years.

I'll be keeping an eye out of your daily accounts of your success and mishaps and how you correct them. Goodluck to both if you to Seattle.
It is a nice town. Make sure you visit Victoria Island B.C. from Anacortes via the ferry. You take your bikes aboard for a boat ride to Victoria Island
through the San Juan Islands. It is an adventure you will forever cherish.
I would then take the ferry into Vancouver, BC a few days later, and ride
into Seattle from Canada.

Good luck again, and very nice clean bikes you both have.

Ken
San Jose, CA :-D\\/

 

[p_s]

You'll see my thread regarding a 3-month 48-state nationwide
tour of America I plan to do within 3 years.

Wow! Much more impressive than my one week 9 state tour. I will go to Vancouver, probably on the bike, but not sure if I have time to go to Victoria Island. Too bad but all my vacation days are tied up visiting my wife back home.

Good luck again, and very nice clean bikes you both have.

Mine looks good from far, but far from good.

 

[p_s]

Day 2: Sunday, May 4, 2008
Start: Dubuque, Iowa
End: Pine River, Minnesota
http://tinyurl.com/4ye759 (Argh, the forum software really doesn't like google map links for routes to Pine River.)

(Dan actually took me on some different roads from St. Cloud but you get the idea.)

Skreemer and I had breakfast and then I was on my way. Route 52 north out of Dubuque is a beautiful road with gentle turns and a great view of the Mississippi--for an hour--and then it straightens out and is quite boring, although still lively compared to Illinois roads. 20 minutes into my day, the speedo went out again. I pulled over and the lower end of the cable wasn't seated properly. I took it out and it looked like the o-rings were getting hung up. I poked them into place and took off, thinking I'd solved the problem for good this time. The final destination today was Pine River, Minnesota and DanTheMan's. We were meeting in St. Cloud and I had a lot of distance to cover.

My mouth felt nasty because I had left my toothbrush at home. After 2 hours I needed gas and I bought a toothbrush at the gas station and brushed my teeth next to the pump. I certainly looked the part of an adventurer, me wearing a bright yellow jacket and the bike wearing overloaded saddle and tank bags and a red jerry can on the rack.

Most of the day was uneventful. I'd ride about 150 miles, stop for gas and do it again. With two hours left I was pretty sore all over, especially my upper back in a muscle I had pulled a few nights before from working on the carbs and airbox. Also my knees and my butt. I rode past famous St. Olaf's college and the Malt-O-Meal factory, which you smell before you see, and it smells wonderful. Not long after that my speedo sputtered a few times and then quit for good, and this time the problem was inside the hub. It was very disheartening to look down and not know how fast I was going or how far I'd gone. Then I remember from an article the PO sent me that my bike redlines at 115 in 6th and 105 in 5th, and the redline is 10,500, and from that I could figure it out. It's important to know these things in little towns whose source of city income is traffic tickets.

Finally I got to St. Cloud and an energetic DanTheMan came out to meet me at the meeting spot. We had a snack and a drink and then Dan took me on a good ride around a few of Minnesota's ten thousand lakes. Well, actually before we took off Dan opened up his tank bag full of tools and tightened up my leaky carb float bowl. At one stop a fellow on a newer Triumph motorcycle came by to chat about bikes, and then he waved again when he passed us 10 minutes later, and then he gave another enthusiastic wave when he turned off onto another road. It gave me the feeling that there isn't a community around newer Triumphs like there is here around our old Suzuki GSes.

Around 8 or so we arrived at Dan's house on 5 wooded acres, and Dan cooked a mean salad, steak and potatoes dinner. Then we looked at my speedo drive. I hadn't taken it apart to grease it before the trip, and after enough time on the road without any long breaks it burned up and seized. I also noticed that my oil level had dropped to the lower line on the sightglass. We both thought it was reasonable that I had burnt a little oil after doing over 1000 miles in 2 days.

Then I took advantage of the hot tub in Dan's basement and my aching muscles no longer ached. It was completely silent outside and I slept very solidly, although as usual not for enough time. (Damn computers!)

(Sorry, no photos today, but there are for the rest of the trip.)

 

[Craiger]

Any idea what you spent total in gas? Just curious. You should have gotten a real good feel for the mileage your bike is getting while on that trip.

 

[p_s]

Any idea what you spent total in gas? Just curious. You should have gotten a real good feel for the mileage your bike is getting while on that trip.

In total I rode about 3200 miles. My speedo went out for most of the trip, but I'd say I probably got 40 mpg, which would put me around 80 gallons and probably pushing $300 in gas :shock:. That was definitely the most expensive part of the trip.

 

[Craiger]

Thanks. I was just curious.

With the number of miles you traveled, that's a couple hundred less than what it would have cost in a car getting 25mpg....and you still have transportation at your destination (which wouldn't be cheap to rent or buy) should you have flown.

 

[p_s]

Day 3: Monday, May 5, 2008
Start: Pine River, Minnesota
End: Wall, South Dakota
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=3322482088306345116,46.966687,-94.721517%3B171796034774658984,46.524143,-96.086850%3B9631769476632106298,46.283640,-96.259120%3B10700277582885476205,46.008540,-98.215150%3B5918535421451148693,44.741860,-98.503840&saddr=pine+river+mn&daddr=MN-64+%4046.966687,+-94.721517+to:US-59+%4046.524143,+-96.086850+to:MN-210+%4046.283640,+-96.259120+to:ND-11+%4046.008540,+-98.215150+to:386th+Ave%2FUS-281+%4044.741860,+-98.503840+to:44.535675,-99.970093+to:wall,+sd&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=6&sz=8&via=1,2,3,4,5,6&sll=44.504341,-99.986572&sspn=1.817815,4.32312&ie=UTF8&ll=45.274886,-100.195312&spn=6.508802,18.325195&z=6

Dan had to leave around 7:15 if I remember right. I slept too late as usual and it was obvious I wasn't going to ride out with him. The temperature was barely over freezing, so that was fine with me. Around 7:45 I begrudgingly left Dan's house--it had only warmed up to maybe 35 degrees but I still had 600 miles to cover if I wanted to sleep in Wall, South Dakota, gateway to the Badlands National Park.

I bought some gas and topped up the oil and started riding, but even wearing all the winter riding gear I own I couldn't bear riding over 60. I stopped at a tiny Harley/dirtbike shop to see if they might have a GS parts bike in the back I could vulcanize for the speedo drive--you hear of stranger things. They didn't, but the owner gave me the names and numbers of the bigger Suzuki dealers in the area. None of them had either. A waste of time, but I was happy to be in from the cold. I rode a while longer and finally around 11 I just couldn't take it anymore and stopped at a combination diner/hardware store/laundromat and had an enormous breakfast of sausage, eggs, toast, and lots of coffee for about $5. "Cold day for a ride?" the old biddies asked. Yup.

Maybe an hour later I left, feeling good. The sun was beginning to appear and the temperature had climbed into the upper 40s.

About an hour after that I reached North Dakota, and it turned into a beautiful day--low 70s, sunny, and very little wind at all. The Dakotas are flat and boring, but at least I didn't have to fight the wind on my little 550 all day as I had been warned. I was getting very bored so I gave in and put in the ipod. Five episodes of This American Life later (at around 6 pm) I crossed a river and reached Pierre, South Dakota. I was riding in the hills again. The first two wheelers I saw there were little scooters and then a few lycra-clad cyclists. (Anyone else think it's funny when they call themselves bikers?) Obviously I had entered the touristy part of South Dakota. I was tired and sore, but I decided to press on to Wall so I could see the Badlands first thing the next morning.

Wall Drug is known for putting up billboards for over a hundred miles in any direction, and each billboard is unique. I was riding on US 14, parallel and not far from I-90. As I expected there was hardly any traffic--I passed a farm truck perhaps twice an hour and that was about it. Some of them even gave the farmer wave you see in downstate Illinois. It's really more like a barely perceptible lifting of the fingers on the steering wheel. Anyways, despite the lack of traffic, there were still Wall Drug signs every few miles the whole way. My bike was making a weird rattle on the overrun and I was tired, otherwise this would have been a great road to find out how fast a heavily-loaded GS550ES can go on a long downhill stretch.

I arrived at Wall at 8 and checked into the first hotel. Then I noticed that I had lost an engine mount bolt, and I wasn't burning oil, I was leaking it out the clutch cover. I had an 8 mm wrench, but I needed an 8 mm socket to tighten the clutch cover bolts. I was pleased to find out there was a hardware store and a NAPA in this little town, but they were closed until the morning. I went to a little restaurant, ate a round meal, and slept soundly.

 

[p_s]

Day 4: Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Start: Wall, South Dakota
End: Sheridan, Wyoming
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=....441624,-104.359131&spn=3.584374,9.503174&z=7

I had to hang around until the hardware store opened at 7:30 to see if they had an engine mount bolt for me, so I went by famous Wall Drug. It looked like about 10,000 square feet of knick-knacks and nothing I needed, so I bought a few bumper stickers and made my way out. The hardware store had my bolt and in high grade to boot. I torqued it in and made my way to the Badlands National Park. I bought an $80 annual parks pass, since I'd be going through a few more national parks. The roads in the park are tight and twisty, and my bike had a very strange rattly feeling in the pegs under compression braking. It was incredibly unsettling when you have this on the outside of your turn:

I pulled over and poked around and discovered my chain had become incredibly loose. I adjusted it about 5 notches--the service limit on an o-ring chain is one or two. It's possible it could be because I hadn't taken proper care of the chain and it was rusty--although it had been rusty for thousands of miles and had not stretched at all prior. North and South Dakota are boring places to ride and I had tried clutchless downshifting. A few times I accidentally did it the way you'd do a clutchless upshift, which would put a lot of strain on the chain. Either way my chain was in awful shape and I had a pit in my stomach.

Still, with the chain adjusted, the bike felt good and I had a great time riding on the twistiest roads I had ever ridden on. As you can see, the view was very nice as well. Then I made my way to Rapid City.

On the way into the center of Rapid City, I saw a Japanese motorcycle dealer on the wrong side of the road. In lunch time traffic I weaved through a couple lanes of stopped traffic and made my way into the shop. They had the right o-ring chain in stock, which I attempted to install in the parking lot. The master link bit me a couple of times, so I gave up and the tattooed goateed mechanic did it with the right pliers for all of $5. Good folks. Before that I had the biggest pucker moment of the trip: I have a GSXR rear shock mounted upside down and backwards--many '83-'86 GS550E/ES owners don't have clearance from the rear wheel to mount them backwards, and mounted upside down and forwards you have to lose the center stand. It looked very close when I put in the master link and I was wondering if the previous chain was stretched when I put in the GSXR shock and I was about to have a Big Problem. Fortunately it cleared just fine.

I also picked up a kidney belt, which made the rest of the trip much more bearable on my back.

After a quick lunch I headed on to the Black Hills. It was sunny and in the 70s in town and there were motorcycles everywhere, but right outside of town on some of the best motorcycles roads in the country I crossed paths with only two. I went to Mt Rushmore, because, well, it was there. It looks more like a theme park than a national park. I pulled up to the gate and they asked me for $10. I showed them my national parks pass and they told me the access was free. It was just $10 to park. Grr ...

(continued)

 

[p_s]

After that it started to drizzle on and off (and hail a little) as I made my way into Custer State Park. Look at the scale on this map:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q....868771,-103.435378&spn=0.00707,0.018561&z=16

The lanes were maybe 5 feet wide with a tire track on either side and gravel in the middle. Several times I rode through a damp single-lane tunnel, then did a 10 mph uphill u-turn, then rode over a bridge over the tunnel. If I were 8 years old on a BMX and it was dry it'd have been a lot more fun. But the view from the top was worth it, and then the roads opened up a bit more and it stopped raining, and I was riding an old Suzuki GS in the Black Hills and having the time of my life.

It was about 3 pm, and I wanted to reach Sheridan, Wyoming that night, which I did around 7 or 8, after some fast riding on more empty roads. I stayed at a hotel that used to be one of the biggest wheat mills in the world. I took the receptionist's recommendation and went to a steakhouse downtown and ate a buffalo ribeye. It was interesting, but now that I've had it I'll stick to beef.

Before I went to sleep I checked on the GS Resources and was warned about the weather on my next leg to Yellowstone and Grand Teton--upper 30s for the highs and snow all day. Not a good combination, especially in higher elevations like mountain passes. I looked on a map and thought about maybe going north to Glacier National Park instead, where the weather would be much more agreeable.

 

[Craiger]

I'd have bought this book. This is some good reading. Pictures really help, too.

Thank you so much for doing this. I don't think you realize just how many people are getting the itch do something similar. Not sure I'll ever get to, but it doesn't mean I don't want to.

 

[p_s]

I'd have bought this book. This is some good reading. Pictures really help, too.

Thanks. So you wouldn't ask me if I own a car, why I didn't drive it to Seattle, why it took so long, where I put everything, what if it rains, what if it breaks down? Almost noone who doesn't ride gets it.

Well, the next part will be very good. I didn't go up to Glacier NP.

 

[Craiger]

Thanks. So you wouldn't ask me if I own a car, why I didn't drive it to Seattle, why it took so long, where I put everything, what if it rains, what if it breaks down? Almost noone who doesn't ride gets it.

Nope...I completely understand.

Well, the next part will be very good. I didn't go up to Glacier NP.

Looking forward to it.

 

[tkent02]

Thanks. So you wouldn't ask me if I own a car, why I didn't drive it to Seattle, why it took so long, where I put everything, what if it rains, what if it breaks down?

Guess they think you can't afford a car or even airfare.

Meanwhile, they flunk life.

Bummer.

 

[p_s]

Day 5: Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Start: Sheridan, Wyoming
End: West Yellowstone, Montana
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=...=44.45731,-109.259033&spn=3.693187,7.1521&z=7

So I woke up and looked at the weather forecast in Sheridan, Cody, Yellowstone NP, Glacier NP, and Jackson, where I wanted to sleep that night. Looked pretty bad. Highs in the upper 30s or lower 40s and rain and snow all day. Accumulation at night. Well, I figured that with that kind of weather the roads would be wet but not snowy or icy. I left around 8 in the rain and stopped at a gas station just before the beginning of Granite Pass (9000 ft) to put on my rain suit and cover my saddlebags. An old man driving a rusty truck confirmed that the roads wouldn't be icy.

So a few minutes later, covered in rain gear, I began my ascent through the twisties up the mountain. It was snowing, the roads were wet, and the visibility was about 100 ft. Pretty soon I found myself going up VERY SLOWLY behind an enormous tour bus. I managed to pass the tour bus on a rare straight section and the ascent continued. Pretty soon I was high enough that there were still several feet of snow on either side of US-14. It was snowing heavily and I was the only one on the road. I could have leaned the bike over more and had a better view if the road were dry, but it wouldn't have been as good. My new Roadriders had an excellent grip on the wet road, and I was riding up a mountain by myself while it was snowing, with snow-covered pine trees on both sides of the road as far as you could see. How much better can it get?! I don't think I'll ever enjoy a piece of road as much as I enjoyed Granite Pass in the snow in May.

Of course it was all scenic and beautiful, but my waterproof gloves weren't really waterproof, and soon my hands were icy cold. Heated grips would have been a big help there. After descending the pass I came across some sort of winter resort with not much business judging from the handful of cars parked in front. I crawled through a snowy parking lot and walked in. It was some sort of snowmobile/four-wheeler resort. I took off my gear and stood in front of a hot fireplace while the receptionist brought me coffee. Everyone thought I arrived on a snowmobile and were shocked to find that I rode in on an old Suzuki road bike. Inquiries were made, and 10 minutes later I was standing in front of an enormous commercial dryer, almost naked, while all of my clothes were drying. Then they went online and looked into the road conditions into Yellowstone: east road open. Finally they gave me about 20 latex gloves to wear under my gloves in the wet.

Resort:

The next couple of hours were pretty boring. Light drizzle on and off and fairly straight roads. I think I reached Yellowstone around 1. The man at the gate told me the road to Grand Teton was closed, but I could take a highly circuitous route through West Yellowstone and around. The park really didn't open until Mother's Day Weekend, only two days later. Drat. Well at least I'd get to see a good bit of Yellowstone.

(continued)

 

[p_s]

Sylvan Pass (8500 ft), on the route from the east gate into the center loop was exciting, especially with the snow and hail. I rode around as much of the loop as was open and saw all sorts of interesting springs and geysers. Strange smells, too. You could pass as much gas here as you wanted and noone would ever be the wiser. I even passed two fellows on Harley-Davidson motorcycles, who gave an enthusiastic wave. The cagers all looked at me as if I had lost my mind.

Of course I had to go see Old Faithful go off. I arrived at Old Faithful around 4:15, and the next eruption was predicted to occur around 40 minutes later. It had stopped snowing so I walked around, grabbed a snack, and called my wife. It began snowing very hard again, and then I realized that my helmet was resting upside down on my handlebars. I rushed to my bike and grabbed the helmet. Somehow in the process my gloves and glove liners also became saturated with snow.

I stood around waiting for Old Faithful to go off. Even though my clothes were wet, I was dressed more appropriately for the weather than most of the tourists. When it went off it was snowing so heavily that one could hardly tell where the clouds ended and the geyser began. Everyone was disappointed.

Then I brushed the snow off my bike and searched for 20 minutes for the one gas station that was open (in the sense that the road was plowed and they were open for credit cards only). I filled up and then struggled to put on the latex gloves from the snowmobile lodge. It was a good thing the resort gave me so many, because they were impossible to put on over cold wet hands. There was no trash can around, so I had to leave a pile of paper towels and torn latex gloves on top of the pump. Whoever cleaned the gas station must have been very puzzled when they discovered what I left.

I was pretty miserable on the 40 minute ride to Yellowstone and the drivers were only making it worse. Otherwise sensible drivers get into a National Park and don't know the rules of the road anymore. Maybe I was just cold and grumpy and they were in a climate-controlled wonderland. 40 minutes and many broken traffic laws later, I was in a West Yellowstone, Montana motel room warming up and feeling better. I ran through the snow to a restaurant and had a couple of dark beers, a salad, and a 12" pizza and felt great.

 

[Big T]

Great story so far

I'm looking forward as to what's next.

I know what you mean about tourists in Yellowstone. We go there about every other year. Back in 89, my wife and I were there at the end of June and it went from 90 one day to sleeting the next day. People forget they're at 7,000', we saw lots of cold people in shorts and hoodies trying to tour the hot pools in the sleet.