It has been a great few days.
On Thursday morning I left Rhode Island by 6am. I called Chacifer about four hours later..
"I'm bored"
She laughed at me and said I was really up a creek if I was bored after four hours.
As much as I like my little FJ cruiser it just isn't a good highway monster like the old F-350 with the Powerstroke but really neither is as fun as the bike for gobbling up mile after mile day after day. I could easily turn this into a million words on why I ride but at this point you either understand or you don't. I figure if you are still reading this lame blog then you get it so let's move on.
Thursday evening I made it to Cleveland and joined my friend Bob for a trip downtown to see Modest Mouse. Prudence kept me out of the mosh pit which was actually pretty tame compared to Lupo's Heartbreak in downtown Providence. We got back to Bob's around 11 and i thanked him as I didn't think we would see each other in the morning. I think he took this as a challenge but I was up and gone when he got up at 4:30; I wanted to get through Columbus where I stopped to take a nap.
The ability to power nap is key for the rally and I have always been good at it. I pulled into a mickyd's parking lot, put the seat back and 18 minutes later work up with no alarm, pulled out and felt great for the rest of the day.
I arrived in Saint Louis and went straight to the HQ of the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America so I could wash the road grime off the bike and say hello to the office staff. I was an officer of the MOA until this summer and I have fond memories of the great team we have at HQ, which as a coincidence is just down the road from the Rally Hotel.
When I got to rally HQ I immediately sought out Dale Wilson (aka Warchild) and Tom Austin as I wanted to have my aux fuel tank inspected. Dale is the chief tech inspector for the rally and Tom is the chief tech guy for the association so I wanted their input right away. It passed the initial check for structural integrity but there were some concerns about volume so I was prepared for scrutiny at tech this morning.
As my practice (remember the ritalin boy thing) I was first in line for tech and after very close inspection it was determined that the total fuel capacity of my motorcycle is 11.45 gallons. The maximum is 11.5 gallons so I am 0.05 gallons short. Har de har har.
