What I did on my Royal Star Venture

[Barnacle442]

I had about 3,000 miles of tread left on my Metzlers this spring, when I broke the Sofaglide out of cold storage. Whatever shall I do with that, I thought. Can't switch out tires with tread still on them. I know! I'll go to the Johnson Space center in Houston. That's about a 3,000 mile round trip. So, I changed the oil, installed new rear brake pads and off I went.

It was a wee bit chilly when I left the NW burbs but, by the time I hit St Louis, it was warming up nicely. Down I went, through Arkansas to Texas. I have never driven in the eastern part of Texas before. I was lied to by all my John Wayne movies. I was expecting flat and desert and tumbleweeds, but here it was all hilly and tall forest almost all the way to Houston. Luckily, the Lord of Hosts saw fit to restrain his rains,... mostly. There is nothing quite as sphincter tightening as getting caught in a sudden downpour while cresting a hill in the Ozarks at 75 mph on a road covered in clay dust. 

Friends who live in the Houston area took me out on a couple rides, first through the Sam Houston National Forest and then through the surrounding countryside. I could easily live in Texas if I wasn't trapped in IL. Apparently, late April was the perfect time to go, temps weren't super hot and I was right in between storm systems. All good things come to an end, however and eventually, after visiting the Johnson Space Center, I had to leave.

On the way home, I decided I would come up The Pig Trail in Arkansas. I overnighted in the town of Ozark, AR and started on the trail in the morning rather that trying to navigate it in the dark. That was when God decided he hadn't blessed me enough and insisted I ride through the mountains in the rain. It rained on me all day. The Pig Trail looks like it would have been fun in the dry but it was pretty scary in the rain and cold. On the plus side, my Frog Togs work perfectly. Somewhere along the way my GPS decided it did not want to be on the Pig Trail anymore and it took me onto AR-412. Not knowing where I was I just followed the Garmin. Eventually, I ended up on a back road that was not paved, WPA N I think. This is an access road, made for tractors and farm equipment, (I call it the cow path.) By the time I realized the GPS was trying to kill me it was too late. I had gone down a hill that I was never going to get back up. I couldn't turn around so I had to continue for the rest of the 8.8 miles to AR-65 North, in the rain. At 1,000 pounds, me and my Venture were now on a hill climbing adventure! I was a muddy trembling mess by the time I got back to the highway. Lessons learned, never trust the Garmin and the RSV is an impressive hill climber.  I rode in the rain all the way up to Hannibal, MO. where I overnighted again.

In the morning it was cold, (45 degrees!), but the sun was shining and it was dry. I ate breakfast at a little place that was full of farmers and then made for The Flat. The Flat is what I call the middle portion of Illinois, that vast featureless prairie. Coming out of Missouri on I-74 is not so bad at first, it's hilly and the sun was shining. Eventually, though, it flattens out and then, Blah. I hung a left at Springfield and rode I-55 the rest of the way home, fighting the GPS all the way. As a punishment, I guess, it tried to take me off the highway and through every little town we passed. Stupid Garmin. I set it to avoid tollways and gravel roads and on this trip it put me on both. 

The bike ran like a champion the whole way. 400+ miles a day every day for a week. you'd never think it had 70,000 miles on it. I think I'm gonna head to Deadwood, SD next time I get a few days off.

Cheers!

 

Edited Sunday at 06:03 PM by Barnacle442

[PastorCurt]

Sounds like an adventure and did you get the Metzlers to where they need replacing?

[Barnacle442]

Just

[N3FOL]

Glad you made it out safely out of the rain and mud.  Great experience like on the RSV is priceless.  Thanks for sharing.