**This series of posts recap my two-week trip to Billings, MT and back from July 1-16, 2013. For the entire list of my featured rides, click here.**
So now I actually get to talk about the main reason I rode to Montana, not that hanging out with several of my good friends isn't a good reason in itself. (Thanks, y'all, by the way.)
Just for starters, here is a giant pancake topped with strawberries and cream from the Billings Hotel and Convention Center's main cafe that I enjoyed on that Monday before the Ride-In™ mayhem began.
A ceremonial pancake/waffle for me is important before starting any official WOW business. This stems back to the waffle machine at the Super 8 us WOW Board of Trustees members stay at in Lincoln, NE.
**This series of posts recap my two-week trip to Billings, MT and back from July 1-16, 2013. For the entire list of my featured rides, click here.**
I slept in on Day 5 of this trip, which translates to waking up somewhere between 9-9:30AM to the sparring of Mollie and Ammo, my friend's two dogs who have the run of the place. I'll talk more about them later. But first, it was off to breakfast at a nearby Perkins restaurant to catch up on our life travels (it's been a few years since we had seen each other face-to-face). On the way inside, we found these two cuties hanging out in the back of another restaurant patron's truck.
**This series of posts recap my two-week trip to Billings, MT and back from July 1-16, 2013. For the entire list of my featured rides, click here.**
When I said that I had to (get to packing) to leave for this trip in the previous post, I wasn't joking; I hadn't even started until I hit the "publish" button and stepped away from the computer. Since it's one of those typical long-distance trips that I make every so often, prep falls into a very organized system that has me up and out in about an hour or less. Additionally, Eleanor was serviced/repaired about two weeks ago so she was ready to go...I had to catch up with her.
Of course, that one hour window is pretty accurate, unless I'm completely lazy and just taking my sweet damn time, which I did, since the ride to Peoria to see my best buddy, Susy, has become more or less a routine, 450-500 mile ride that I've made many times before. It's the other place I hang my hat when I can make it westward, and for this year's cross-country trip, it's the first stop of a chain of friends I get to see along the way. Speaking of friends, Mr. Doppler Radar helped me avoid a downpour across I-80 because of the deliberate delay.
I left Eastlake, OH at 5PM and took I-80 across most of the way. This was the first time I've ridden to Peoria from there (I usually left from Columbus, OH via I-70 and I-65 out of Indianapolis). I'm glad I took cash with me because of the turnpike tolls, but other than that, it was an uneventful ride through the night that had me there and in bed by 3AM Central Time. Yep, I'm a slacker.
South Bend, IN...I think I'm the only person wearing any Cardinal and Gold in here. This is quite awkward.
This year, it's shifted back west to Billings, MT at the Billings Hotel and Convention Center. It's a familiar venue as I had inadvertently spent a night there in July 2011 on the way back to Ohio from that year's Ride-In in San Jose, CA due to volunteer oil spill cleanup workers staying at the more budget-chain hotels.
The return there will be one of accomplishment - this is the first Ride-In™ of which I am serving as an event chair. To have this much of an impact on this storied tradition is quite an honor, and with all that's happened in the last few weeks with my job amid the planning of the details of the Ride-In™, I am relieved to be able to saddle up and get out for a while.
Due to my job's official demise this past Wednesday (yep, I finally got the axe after a number of extensions), I have made the decision to leave several days earlier than I originally planned. This will allow me to visit several friends along the way and take my time on what will become a 2000-mile one-way trip. Also, I will stop at a few points of interest that I had learned about from fellow riders and random readings on the Internet.
Some proposed points of interest:
- Gander Mountain Firearms Super Center (Peoria, IL): This is supposedly the largest gun store in the state of Illinois, which is pretty ironic because Illinois is one of a couple states *cough California cough New Jersey cough New York cough* where gun ownership and carry laws are pretty much damn near Draconian level. It's also pretty awkward to walk into a firearms store where you can't even carry your own concealed weapon in legally. Do I smell a double standard? Thanks a lot, Land of Lincoln.
- World's Largest Ball of Twine Rolled By One Man (Darwin, MN): This is one of several stringy abominations that claim to be the world's biggest ball of twine. This one's just outside of Minneapolis on my direct route and strangely enough, a bucket list item for me as I've always wanted to see it up close. Apparently, Weird Al Yankovic did something in regards to this particular twine ball. And I like Weird Al, so there you go.
- International Peace Garden (Dunseith, ND): This destination that lies right on the 49th Parallel at the top of North Dakota was created to symbolize the peaceful relationship and cooperation between the United States and Canada. This was introduced to me by a good friend that had made the motorcycle trip herself to see it many years ago. There is a cairn of native stone at the border of the two countries with the following inscription to mark this place: “To God in His Glory… We two nations dedicate this garden and pledge ourselves that as long as men shall live we will not take up arms against one another.'' Pretty cool.
Here's a general gist of the route there via Google Maps. Haven't figured out the way back, but I'll make it interesting.
View Larger Map Here's the current itinerary for the first half of the trip:
7/1 - Depart from Eastlake, OH (Hey, that's today! I better get packing...)
7/1-7/2 - Peoria, IL
7/3 - Minneapolis, MN
7/3- 7/4 - Minneapolis, MN/Minot, ND
7/5-7/6 - Minot, ND/Dunseith, ND (International Peace Garden)/something else
7/7-7/12 - Billings, MT for the WOW International Ride-In™
7/12-? - TBA
More to come as I get on the road! Stay tuned here on TwoWheeledTourist.net or follow my Twitter or Facebook pages for random ramblings amid the full blog posts.
Until the snow thaws and I have time again, I'm trading the two wheels for a set of wings. Next stop this week is Monroe, LA, the site of the 2014 28th Women On Wheels® International Ride-In for a "workcation" with my fellow members of the WOW Board of Trustees. Along with some quick sightseeing, we'll be sitting down and working on quite a bit of organization-related businesses, as it has been for me for the last two years.
This will be my first foray into the Bayou State, and with Monroe being in the northern portion of the state I won't be anywhere near the craziness of New Orleans. So no, I will not expose my chest area to get beads. Besides, Fat Tuesday's not for another month anyway.
Pics coming soon, but while you wait, here's the brief introduction I made for the next-to-upcoming Ride-In in July 2014. Curious about this group of women I work and ride with? Visit the website at http://www.womenonwheels.org
It's not often that I'll jump on a bike, take off on a test ride, go "whee, whee, whee!" and want to ride it all the way home. That was the case with the 2012 Ducati Diavel, the Italian motorcycle maker's take on the cruiser genre. I had the opportunity to stop by Touring Sport in Greenville, SC, one of the sponsors for this year's Women On Wheels® International Ride-In, to test ride this exotic beast.
With the modern, avant-garde styling of the Diavel, it's pretty difficult for me to even consider it to be a "cruiser" despite its designation by Ducati. It has the huge rear tire of a custom cruiser, the upright posture of a naked bike, and the ridiculous power of a sportbike with an innovative computer system to boot. When I threw a leg over this machine, its ergonomics had me thinking that I was on a low-slung Monster rather than the stereotypical laid-back posture of a standard cruiser. The foot controls were so upright, in fact, that I thought I was in an office chair with handlebars! And I could even stand up straight on the pegs!
Getting ready to rip the pavement on one sleek Duc!
It's been a very fun week at the WOW International Ride-In in Greenville, SC! I had a lot of work to do on my end, thanks to my position at Women On Wheels®, but it was productive. Hopefully members who attended my seminars about local chapter organization and using social media were able to take away something from them. The preparation for those presentations (and my online blogging absence over the last couple months) were definitely worth it.
Because of the tight schedule during the event and the fact that I had to be back in Columbus on Saturday so that Matt could get to work, we had to book it. Since it's probably going to be a while until we return to that part of the country on motorcycles, we made slight detour south about 350 miles to tag a couple more states with the two wheels. We headed down to Atlanta, GA, then to Gadsden, AL, and back up to Columbus via Chattanooga, TN and I-75/I-71. We took a break for the night and stayed in Georgetown, KY to rest up for the last 200 miles to Columbus.
Luckily, the route we took put us behind several severe storm systems. We only hit rain twice, once north of Chattanooga and the last leg home, starting in Florence, KY. We were so determined to go home that we rode the last 120 miles in a complete downpour without stopping to put on the rain gear! So yes, everything is either in the clothes dryer or attached to the motorcycle gear dryer in the living room. Huzzah.
By the way, I'm already preparing for next year's WOW Ride-In in Billings, MT. Here's the video I made for this year's closing ceremonies to re-introduce this site to the membership. It's the largest party of the year for our organization, and we're always looking for more ladies to hang out with us!
I do apologize for the slight online absence as of late. Long story short, there's been a lot of craziness and stress to go around in my part of the universe (to say the least), and it only took a freak severe thunderstorm to knock out power at work, send me home early, and then have me camp at Barnes and Noble because I've now joined the hundreds of thousands of Ohio residents who don't have power at their homes for the next few hours. Free Wi-Fi is a wonderful thing when you have a laptop and will travel!
With that being said, the end of June heralds an event that I always look forward to (and have written about many times over the years): the Women On Wheels® International Ride-In. This year's in Greenville, SC, less than 500 miles from Columbus, OH. And for the first time in a couple years, Matt gets to join me on this vacation!
As tradition would call it on my blogs, if I don't get enough time to write about the happenings about the trip, I will, at the minimum, reveal the projected ride there. This year, Mann and I will take advantage of a few extra days off off work and attempt to fulfill a personal goal of mine that has been several years in the making: ride through all 48 continental states on Eleanor, the still very functional, high-mileage Yamaha FJR1300AWC.
As of today, I have crossed 43 of them, and the remaining five all happen to be in the SE corner: Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and Georgia. So, to cross into all of these states, we're proposing a approximately 900 mile detour, or rather, the "long way" to Greenville, SC.
As for the straight-forward way to Greenville, it's something I've done before. In fact, I've ridden to Spartanburg, SC (about 40 miles away) for a long distance lunch and to complete my first, documented Iron Butt SaddleSore 1000 in 2010.
Here's the proposed map of the journey. We're looking at two, 550-650 mile days and a quick 300 mile jaunt into South Carolina.
After hanging out with friends at the WOW Ride-In in San Jose, I spent an extra couple days in CA to attend the memorial service of Diana Thornton, one of my Columbus riders that passed away to cancer last August. Coincidentally, she lived in the San Jose area for 15 years while she worked for in the Bay Area and then transferred to Columbus, OH where I then met her. She was a long-time Women On Wheels® member that helped start both the LA Iron Angels and the Buckeye State Lady Riders, two chapters that I've served as a director. She will be missed dearly, and I was very honored to be part of her final send-off in the California redwoods.
Sometimes to have a lot of fun, you gotta get a little dirty!
As part of the festivities of the Women On Wheels® 25th International Ride-In taking place in San Jose, CA last week, I had the opportunity with five other WOW members to take the ATV Safety Class ran by the California State Parks Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Division. It was held at the Hollister Hills SVRA (State Vehicular Recreational Area). Learning curriculum and material provided was from the ATV Safety Institute.
About two weeks left until departure! Eleanor's just needs an oil change and another driving light installed and she's ready to go.
This is version 6 of the ride route. It's pretty much the same as the first route, except that the destination cities have been changed. Due to an event being rescheduled, I will be staying in northern CA for an additional day and as a result, will have to extend my daily miles to make up for lost time on the return back (average about 625 miles per day). This shouldn't change much barring any technical difficulties during the trip.
6/30 - Depart from Columbus, OH
7/1-7/2 - Green River, WY (BunBurner Gold 1500 7/1, BunBurner 1500 7/2)
7/3 - Reno, NV
7/3 or 7/4-7/8 - San Jose/Oakland, CA
7/9 - Navarro Redwoods State Park, then ride to Eugene, OR
7/10 - Missoula, MT
7/11 - Spearfish, SD
7/12 - LaCrosse, WI
7/13 - Columbus, OH
All right folks, it's June and that means it's less than a month to my annual ride to the Women On Wheels® International Ride-In, wherever the heck it is.
This year, I get to ride west back to my home state of CA to the northern coast of San Jose. It'll be my chance to return to the Golden State for the first time since February and it'll be the first trip home for Eleanor since she left in late August 2009.
I don't have a lot of time to take off for this journey, and with this year's Ride-In being clear across the country I have to cover a lot of ground and attempt to get to the West Coast in four days or less. I have covered this distance before (in reverse from Los Angeles to Columbus), taking a little over four days so this won't be too much of a stretch. To try to make the push a little more rewarding, I will attempt a second Iron Butt run, either a BunBurner 1500 (1500 miles in 36 hours), BunBurner Gold 1500 (1500 miles in 24 hours), or a SaddleSore 2000 (2000 miles in 48 hours). After my successful SaddleSore 1000 in August 2010, I know that I am capable of this task, and I think the comfort adjustments I made to Eleanor will be a huge advantage in eating up the distance.
On the return, I will be crossing through several states I have not ridden a motorcycle through (or been): Oregon, Washington, Montana, and Wisconsin. This trip will bring my total number of states crossed with Eleanor to 43, leaving Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana to finish the Continental 48 states on the same motorcycle.
Here's the current itinerary:
6/30 - Depart from Columbus, OH
7/1-7/2 - Green River, WY (BunBurner Gold 1500 7/1, BunBurner 1500 7/2)
7/3 - Reno, NV
7/3 or 7/4-7/7 - San Jose, CA
7/8 - Navarro Redwoods State Park, then ride to Portland, OR (or as far as I can in that direction)
7/9 - somewhere between Spokane, WA and Billings, MT
7/10 - Chamberlain, SD
7/12 - Milwaukee, WI
7/13 - Return to Columbus, OH
Approximate distance (assuming no by-ways or tourist-like stops...yeah, right) = 5700 miles
In February 2006 I was in the showroom of Out the Door Motorsports in Los Angeles waiting for the service department to finish prepping my brand new yellow 2005 Suzuki SV650N so I could ride it home that day. While I was killing time in the showroom, out of the corner of my eye I saw a shiny silver 2006 Yamaha FJR1300A on display.
I immediately fell in love with its contours and its sleek design. That sport-touring motorcycle captured my imagination and I dreamed of the places I could go and sights I could see with a powerful, mile-eating machine like that. After reading its specs and realizing that it was a 1300cc, 147HP monster with luggage, I thought to myself, "There is no way I'd be able to ever ride that kind of bike."
Last month I had a visitor with me who followed me wherever me and my motorcycle traveled. Her name is Josey (a loose translation of San Jose), and she's a sea lion. She's also the 2011 Women On Wheels ® Ride-In Ambassador for next year's event in San Jose, CA. I first met her in Stratton, VT during this year's Ride-In as she was introduced during the closing ceremonies.
The Buckeye State Lady Riders received the honor of being the first shipping recipient of Josey. In the two and a half weeks she was with the chapter, she accomplished the following:
- 2430 miles on a motorcycle
- 1 Iron Butt SaddleSore 1000 from Columbus, OH to Spartanburg, SC and back covering seven states (OH, KY, TN, NC, SC, VT, WV)
- trips all over Columbus and the surrounding area
- visited the Columbus Zoo, Dublin and Easton Chiller Rinks, the Longaberger Basket, Motohio European Motorbikes, and the AMA Museum and Hall of Fame to name a few
- attended an MSF Beginner Riders Course
- visited ALL five WOW Ohio chapters (Buckeye State Lady Riders, Dayton Wright Lady Riders, Queen City Lady Riders, Ohio River Valley Vixens, and the Cleveland Rumble Pack)
So what's the deal with this traveling stuffed animal? For those new to the Ride-In Ambassador, here's a little explanation:
Every WOW Ride-In has a Ride-In Ambassador (RIA) that travels the country visiting chapters all over the United States. Chapters place their requests for the RIA after that year's Ride-In and a schedule is set up for its stopovers. Over the years, WOW RIAs (and the WOW members that accompany it) have ended up in the most interesting places, and photos taken with it are shown at the following year's Ride-In. The RIA changes every year to reflect the uniqueness of the area where the Ride-In will be held. For example, 2009's RIA was a steer (Kerville, TX) and 2010's RIA was a jersey cow (Stratton, VT). Since WOW's headed to the West Coast (San Jose, CA) in 2011, she's a sea lion.
To commemorate her trip through Ohio and a few surrounding states, I made this slideshow with some of the best photos of her stops here and there. Josey will eventually make her way back to San Jose, CA just in time for the festivities on July 5-7, 2011. Thanks, Josey, for hanging out with us in the Buckeye State!
This slideshow is dedicated in memory of Diana Thornton, our fallen BSLR founding member (and long-time San Jose, CA resident) who passed away on August 15, 2010 after a courageous battle with cancer. Josey poses with Diana's husband of 50 years, Scott, their two sons, her best friend, and grandson in the second to last photo. The slideshow closes with Josey sitting on her 2009 Honda Shadow Aero 750. Diana, you will be dearly missed...ride on, and "take the long way home."
July's coming up again, and for me and a few hundred other ladies of Women On Wheels®, that means the annual migration to this year's venue for the WOW International Ride-In. For 2010, it's in Stratton, VT. This year, the distance and conditions are in my favor because moving to Columbus has put me less than 700 miles from the event, a stark contrast from the 1300 miles (direct) through the desert and into Kerrville, TX for last year's Ride-In.
Of course, in Christine fashion, those Google Maps-based numbers are somewhat meaningless because in my world there is no such thing as a "straight route" back and home, even on a crunched schedule. When on the open road with the bike, there's always a little bit of latitude to add more miles and more scenery in between. Since this is my 4th Ride-In that I will be attending, I'll summarize the routes I've traveled to get to each one.
2007 (Springfield, MO): My first Ride-In was on a whim. A fellow member from the LA Iron Angels decided to ride there and I, along with my brand new FJR1300, took off and turned it into the first (and still craziest) long distance roundabout way home. You can read about the whole adventure here.
2008 (Boyne, MI): This is the only Ride-In (and hopefully the last) that I had to arrive in by car. With crunched time and a short budget, Matt (my boyfriend at the time and freshly recruited WOW Support Member) and I flew to his mom's house in Columbus and borrowed the car to drive to Boyne for the second day of festivities. We had a fun time testing out BMW bikes and bumping into familiar faces, but I was also there on a mission: to return Frieda's the Frog's travel journal. That summary is here.
2009 (Kerrville, TX): The Ride-In to Texas marked my return to Columbus and final one as a tourist. With a lot more time (losing your teaching job can do that to you) and some free lodging on the way courtesy of the future mother-in-law, this ride was the most extended distance adventure I have done to date. This also marked my first unofficial Iron Butt with a straight shot home from Roswell, NM to LAX totaling 1,004 miles. Not as much time to write about it as I was used to, but this was the first experiment at using Facebook for blogging, as shown here.
Now with over 86,000 miles on my FJR1300 and still many more to follow, I'm on a quest to seek more paved roads to ride. So now for this summer's journey, two goals I will accomplish will be riding through every single state in the northeast United States and reaching the East Coast on two wheels. The fun part? I have exactly one week to complete everything. Here is the tentative itinerary. Yahoo.
Sunday (7/4): Ride straight to Albany, NY.
Monday (7/5): Ride from Albany, NY toward Stratton, VT by way of Providence, RI, Boston, MA, and Kittery, ME, entering VT by way of NH.
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday (7/6-7/8): Ride-In time!
Friday (7/9): Ride to Freehold, NJ by way of New Haven, CT and travel via bus to NYC to hang out with a friend.
Saturday (7/10): Straight shot back to Columbus by way of Baltimore, MD, crossing Delaware in the process.
