Under the weather..my first snowstorm!

[davewallen]

So, I'm headed home from a trip up north yesterday. My head is pounding, having sampled a few itty-bitty town bars Sunday night. Forecast says snow possible on Tuesday. I'm cold, because I lost one of my gloves somewhere down the road, because I stuck it in my pocket so I could keep reaching in for another piece of beef jerky. That's another nice thing about Wisconsin, every area you hit has SOMEONE selling homemade beef jerky, and I can live on the stuff.

SO, as I get near West Bend, it's getting wickedly windy and cold. If I hold the throttle steady, the bike actually goes from 65 to 50 MPH when the wind changes, and I need both hands to keep it headed the right direction.

Not being miserable enough, the Lord decides to send a little rain my way. So now my freezing hand is wet AND freezing, and starting to get numb. I decide I'll stop at the next Walmart in West Bend and picks up some gloves and a hat, since my short haired head is attracting icicles. I figure I'm about 25 miles away from the wal mart exit..and then the Lord decides to REALLY dump on me.

Big, fat, wet flakes start swirling. Even at 65, they cling right to the fairing. Now I have to stick my head up to see anything over the fairing. And I'm still 200 miles from home...

Well 5 miles of this is enough. I can't feel my fingers anymore, so I stick my head up (think of meerkat manor) over the fairing, and start looking for ANY exit.

Finally find one, and stop at a hospital. Run my hands under some water (OUCH!!!). Look out the windows, and it looks like Xmas day out there with all the snow coming down. Some well-expressed curses make a few people look at me funny, especially with my drowned-rat look. I get out the cell, and call my buddie with a trailer..

As I'm talking, I walk back outside. Lo and Behold! The Sun is shining in the west! Five minutes later, and it's a beautiful day! I also realize that because of the snow, I missed the x%4$%^ Walmart exit!

So, I stick my head under the hand dryer, and 2 hours later, the day has turned out even better, and I'm pulling up my drive.

Today, I plan on finding some way of attaching gloves so they don't get lost. I think I'll re-read that electric grip thread again. I also don't plan any more trips this year, unless they are under 100 miles.

Have a great day, everyone!

 

[Regis]

Gawd, what an experience! Peter Egan's book, Leanings (he's a well known Motorcycling writer), has a story that is eerily similiar to yours, but instead of getting better, with sunshine (good luck on your part), in his tale, it gets worse! Snow built up on the road and started to accumulate on his wheels. And he didn't make it home, but ended up pulling in at a Yamaha dealership in the dark, ten minutes before it closed and stored his bike for winter storage, road and snow crud and all.

 

[DanTheMan]

A helmet (Lord help me!!!!!!!!) might have been handy too, eh?????:-D

 

[Planecrazy]

A helmet (Lord help me!!!!!!!!) might have been handy too, eh?????:-D

I'll second that!

Dave, get yourself some serious protective gear! It's VERY cheap insurance compared to the expense of visiting a hospital because of an unwanted crash!

Next year when the thaw comes we'll look forward to meeting you at the various rallies in the midwest. There's a very active Chicagoland group of GS'rs, and we often ride up into WI to enjoy the backroad twisties. PM me your email address and I'll put you on the local email list.

Welcome to the forum - what kind of bike are you riding?

Regards,

 

[dwvoss]

Probably a good plan about shorter rides for the rest of the year, but I'm hoping to ride from Chicago to Decorah ~270 miles on Saturday.

I'm hoping they are telling the truth about the near 50 degree temps, and lying about any chance of precip.

 

[davewallen]

Helmet? Sorry, I was born dumb, and plan to stay that way. Although I have been known to put one on in December or January, but only on cold nights.

I tend to ride carefully, since I have one glass eye :shock: (can't find a smiley with only ONE popping eye!) 'Bout 30 years of riding - one accident, back when I was REALLY stupid and drank and drove. In a normal year, I put about 22K on the bike and 1 K on the car, but have had extremes of up to 20K on the bike in 3-4 months. Since I'm 53 now, I doubt my no-helmet tendencies are going to change, although I appreciate the thought.

In fact, since we're talking about history a little, let me tell you about my first bike. It was a little 50cc suzi, I think a 67 or 68 model, and it actually had 2 rear sprockets, one for on-road driving (max about 50MPH) and one for dirting, which was really geared low, probably a max of about 20MPH. Someone gave it to me (with I had it now) and all I had to fix was the woodruff key on the magneto was broken, so at times you would never get a spark at the right time.

And if I did my sig right, now it should show my bike...