I am sharing a room in GJ with a real nice guy. But, he's a talker. Can you imagine what happens when you put two talkers in the same room?
Last night, my GPS wouldn't talk to my computer, so I had to hand-enter all the stops I wanted to make for bonuses. That took forever and then I realized two things: 1) I was going to be riding Beartooth Pass, Chief Joseph Pass, and the Powder River Pass (US-16 between Worland and Buffalo, WY, in the dark. 2) I was going to have to try to take my rest bonus in Cody. Without a reservation a couple of weeks in advance, that's next to impossible.
I also realized that getting on and off the bike for every bonus picture as well as to take pix of the signs that have one of the letters in the words "Heaven" and "Hell" (only one letter per sign), and the last-minute bonus addition made last night of 25 points/picture of a church, was going to be accumulating fatigue.
So I reversed the direction of the route (manually, of course) and eliminated Beartooth and Chief Joseph, which also eliminated Montana and getting four states was important to earning the points to be a finisher.
And then...and then...and then along came Jones,. Well not slow-talking Jones but my roommate. I had just gotten in bed at 10 when he came in and we started talking. I finally fell asleep at about 11:30 and then woke up at 1:30. Did I mention that roomie snores. Loudly and erratically. I never got back to sleep.
So I decided to make this a ride. Now I'm going to bed and planning on leavng here (here being the Rodeway Inn in Buffalo by about 4:30 so i can get back to GJ by the finishing time.
It was a great ride -- except for one little thing. In Lander, WY, I stopped for gas and really needed to go to the bathroom. I put the gas in the bike, went inside, did my business, messed around for maybe 10 minutes and then realized I hadn't turned off the ignition. It had enough juice that it didn't clear the memory on the trip meters, but not enough to turn the engine.
I called AMA and all they will do if you have a problem is bring you fuel or tow you to a dealer. I told the woman that I guess I needed to be towed. She said she'd call me back. While I was waiting on that a couple in a pickup getting gas asked how I was doing. When I told them, he said, "Well, i guess we've all done that," and she said, "Who can I call to get this man some help?"
Then she told me that I was a block from a shop that worked on Harleys but they were good people. She called the owner and he said he'd get somebody to me right away. Then AMA called and said they'd have a guy from Strokers, a shop that was only a block from my current location, there in no more than 15 minutes.
The guy came, loaded the bike in their covered trailer, took it and me to their shop -- a whole block away -- and put a trickle charger on the bike. An hour later and it started up. The whole deal took about 2 1/2 hours, which for a town not far from Nowhere, Wyoming, ain't bad at all.
I rode 568 miles today and have 499 for tomorrow.
Nighty night!
Last night, my GPS wouldn't talk to my computer, so I had to hand-enter all the stops I wanted to make for bonuses. That took forever and then I realized two things: 1) I was going to be riding Beartooth Pass, Chief Joseph Pass, and the Powder River Pass (US-16 between Worland and Buffalo, WY, in the dark. 2) I was going to have to try to take my rest bonus in Cody. Without a reservation a couple of weeks in advance, that's next to impossible.
I also realized that getting on and off the bike for every bonus picture as well as to take pix of the signs that have one of the letters in the words "Heaven" and "Hell" (only one letter per sign), and the last-minute bonus addition made last night of 25 points/picture of a church, was going to be accumulating fatigue.
So I reversed the direction of the route (manually, of course) and eliminated Beartooth and Chief Joseph, which also eliminated Montana and getting four states was important to earning the points to be a finisher.
And then...and then...and then along came Jones,. Well not slow-talking Jones but my roommate. I had just gotten in bed at 10 when he came in and we started talking. I finally fell asleep at about 11:30 and then woke up at 1:30. Did I mention that roomie snores. Loudly and erratically. I never got back to sleep.
So I decided to make this a ride. Now I'm going to bed and planning on leavng here (here being the Rodeway Inn in Buffalo by about 4:30 so i can get back to GJ by the finishing time.
It was a great ride -- except for one little thing. In Lander, WY, I stopped for gas and really needed to go to the bathroom. I put the gas in the bike, went inside, did my business, messed around for maybe 10 minutes and then realized I hadn't turned off the ignition. It had enough juice that it didn't clear the memory on the trip meters, but not enough to turn the engine.
I called AMA and all they will do if you have a problem is bring you fuel or tow you to a dealer. I told the woman that I guess I needed to be towed. She said she'd call me back. While I was waiting on that a couple in a pickup getting gas asked how I was doing. When I told them, he said, "Well, i guess we've all done that," and she said, "Who can I call to get this man some help?"
Then she told me that I was a block from a shop that worked on Harleys but they were good people. She called the owner and he said he'd get somebody to me right away. Then AMA called and said they'd have a guy from Strokers, a shop that was only a block from my current location, there in no more than 15 minutes.
The guy came, loaded the bike in their covered trailer, took it and me to their shop -- a whole block away -- and put a trickle charger on the bike. An hour later and it started up. The whole deal took about 2 1/2 hours, which for a town not far from Nowhere, Wyoming, ain't bad at all.
I rode 568 miles today and have 499 for tomorrow.
Nighty night!