Well, we left this last Saturday on our trip from S. FL to go watch the Indianapolis RedBull Moto GP next weekend. We've planned on making it a 2 week trip. I thought I would post up on our progress as we travel.

We loaded up the F3's with saddle bags, they're the Cortech Sport which fit nicely on the F3. They give just enough extra room. I'm using a marine waterproof (if there is such a thing) duffle bag and my wife uses a canvas bag. She packs everything in plastic garbage bags just to be safe and keep things dry. Here we were on Sat. the 6th getting ready to leave.





On Saturday, we made it as far as Adel, GA. That's about 430 miles from home. Not too bad for a first day. Florida is a long a for the most part pretty boaring so we just try to get it over with. On Sunday, we started taking smaller roads, meandering up through SW GA as we made our way up through Alabama. Up past Birmingham to a small town called Maulton (I think). The riding on this day was much nicer. Less traffic on the smaller roads, and much more interesting scenery. Here we stopped for a quick shot of a true southern produce, cotton fields. The previous night it had rained like crazy and beat down the fluffy *****, but they don't look too bad.





Well, we've made it as far as Clarksville, TN. (does anyone know if this is the Clarksville that the Monkeys sang about back in the '60's ?). Any way, we have a few of those MAD maps with interesting roads for the area so we plan to spend a few days here before heading up to Indianapolis on Thursday. I'll post up again as the week progresses. Our plans after Indy are to head down to Robinsville, NC (hit Deals Gap, Cheraholla Skyway and a few others), then down to N. GA for a couple of days before heading back home.

 

That is a nice trip. A whole two weeks of just cruising. I would love to do something like that.

 

Nice! Post up more pics please!

 

A room with a view. We got a room in Clarksville, TN at the Riverview Hotelwith a nice view of the Cumberland river. It's quite a site.

 

When bikes collide !

So, it's Tuesday and we're on our first free ride out into the countryside. It was a bit cooler but nice out. Not that blistering heat that we had been riding through. We're riding down this road in an area called the Land Between the Rivers. After an hour or so I saw a place with a nice overlook, but it came up fast. I started to stop, but had second thoughts about stopping that fast. I looked back at my wife and it appeared that she had seen me slowing down (she hadn't). So I decided to go ahead and slow to start to make a turn to the left. Just as I was getting ready to make the turn, I heard the scream from her as she went by. Our bikes clipped each other as whe went by on my left.

The aftermath.
The collision jarred me somewhat, and made we wobble down the road, but I recovered. As I watched her go by I saw her go off the road, and then the bike slid out from underneath her. I can't tell you how frightening it is to watch your wife slide away in front of you with the motorcycle sliding next to her. She slid about 20' to 30' in the grass head first. We're both firm believers in wearing full gear. I pulled to the side of the road and hopped off to run to her aid. She was already sitting up, crying, but no injuries that I could see.She regained her composure and we assertained that there weren't any broken bones or serius injuries. I don't even think that her head hit the ground. She said that she was riding and thought she would recover, but once in the grass, the bike went down and she said the next thing she was sliding along watching the grass slip by. A local phone man was working a few hundred feet down the road and either saw it or heard it. But he came by within a minute or two. She took off her gloves and she had injured the end of her "Bird" finger. Aparently it hit a rock or something else hard. Most of the skin was chewed up on the very tip. For the most part we were able to get the bleeding to stop. A few moments later, another a man in a later model Firebird stopped. His name was Johnny. He turned out to be the most generous, hospitable person I've ever met. He helped me get her bike back up and we rolled it back to the road.





The unbelievable Good Samaritan

It turns out that Johnny is an avid biker as well. He got on the phone (you have to remember we're 46 miles from nowhere) and called a friend called Steve. The conversation went something like this... Hi Steve, this is Johnny.., yea, here's what I need you to do. Get your truck, get the motorcycle trailer and all the tie-downs you can muster and get over here (he told him in just a few words where we were). We've got a couple of bike that are down and need our help. 40 minutes later he was there with his son Matt. They were unbelievable! We got the bikes loaded and he proceded to take us back to Clarksville, TN. Now you have to remember that we had ridden into Kentucky on our ride that morning so he was taking us away from where he lived. We got to the dealer, and naturally they were willing to help us out. With a guestimate of hundreds of dollars for overnight fees, $89 an hour for labor, he could get us back up within a few days. I'm thinking this is going to cost us more than the bikes are worth. Well Steve spoke up. He said that he didn't want to steel business from them, but he would offer his garage and tools at his homefor me to be able to work on the bike, figure out what I need and fix it myself. I was flabbergasted. I couldn't believe how helpful he was being. He then took us to a local walk in clinic to get my wifes finger looked at. He waited while we got her taken care. We took them to dinner and then proceeded to his home in KY. We stopped by a local Enterprise car rental to get us a rental. We followed him over to his home and unloaded the bikes.

Wednesday

We got there about 9AM and began the analysis. Upper R Cowl, Right Lever, Cowl Front, Headlight unit, Lower R side, Lower L side, Cowl Set, and that was for her bike. Mine was simple, Cover Altgernator, and Gasket. We've ordered the parts and we're going to have them sent to the hotel we're staying at in Indianapolis. We'll return with the parts (if they arrive) on Monday afternoon to put the bikes back together.

Indy

Well, we're here, but not exactly how we expected to arrive, in a rental car. But, we're here just the same. I really didn't envision this turning out this way.

 

wow! This has turned into quite the adventure! How did your stator cover get like that?? From her slider? Glad your both allright!! Get those bikes back in the tip top shape they are always in!

 

Yes, I think it was her right slider that did it. I can't think of anything else that could have hit it. Well in the spirit of trying to make "Lemonade" when given lemons, at least I won't have any scratches on my Alternator Cover any more. There were other things that got damaged that I didn't mention because I was able to "reform" them. The rear tail light bracket was bent out of shape, the foot brake pedal looked like a pretzel, and the left rear set was bent out enough to cause the shift lever to bind with the shift linkage. I'm hoping that by Monday night they will be all back together so we can continue this journey.

It's really depressing seeing everyone arriving here on their motorcycles and we're in a cage. Oh well, at least we're here.