Ride Report - America pt. 2

I slept harder than I had in years that night in Limon, CO. The previous night riding through Denver had taken it out of me, my adrenaline was spiked for hours, I was really nervous about mechanical failures, blowing a tire, headlight going out, etc. The road was terrible and the traffic was jammed, but the speed was high dropping down the grade. It would have been like being thrown into a meat grinder if we had to lay’r down.

Luckily, we escaped the mountain passes, and the rain, and the traffic, and somehow avoided breakdowns during that leg of the trip. When we woke up to flatlands the next day I felt a sigh of relief as I walked out of the shitty motel to my bike. It was about 6am. Limon, Co is a small rural town less than an hour from the Kansas border. We were up early hoping to put in a big day. The goal was to make it all the way through Kansas and into Missouri. I walked over to the gas station and grabbed Jake and I some coffees, grabbed some fresh bungees to secure my shit a bit better.

The night before, my vintage military bag had ripped in half from all the moving around on the bike. It was old and it was probably a mistake to think it would last the entire trip. Luckily I had a dry bag inside for my clothes and sleeping bag, that would now be my main bag on my sissy bar, holding everything. It felt kinda good to shed some weight and slim down. I left my cheapo rain suit in the motel garbage and left.

At this point I was really happy to be out of the mountains, it was beautiful and is my preferred scenery, but after 3 days I was ready for flat, wide open road, and sea level seemed enticing too because the bikes are just more predictable.

We were both really excited to get on the road and cover some ground, we hoped it would be easy starts that morning, we were kinda counting on it with the miles we had planned for the day. The bikes started right up and we were off in the wind. Once you get out of Colorado it really feels like you are leaving the West. I felt far away from home all the sudden.

When we broke through the border the road was fuckin terrible, there was a huge crack every 50’ for about 30 minutes, it was like a speedbump, over and over again for miles haha. I actually read Dale Arenson’s book when I got home from the trip and he talked about a run they did where they experienced the same thing. It made me realize how common all these situations are to people that do these long rides on rigid frames.

We started looking for a place to eat at about 9am, the bikes were runnning really good and we had a great buzz going together, finally feeling like we could just ride at full speed, no traffic, nothing to worry about except enjoying the moment. At a gas stop, Jake found a little town called Goodland that looked cool. We would stop there and eat.

When we exited in Goodland it was like I was transported back to 1958. The main drag in the town was cobblestone, all the storefronts looked like they hadn’t changed in 60 years- old signage, a bunch of old cars parked on the street. I dug it. That’s probably my favorite part about traveling on a bike, you are forced to move at such. a slower pace with gas stops, you end up exiting in the coolest towns that you would normally blow right by.

Jake got us to the parking lot of Mom’s Cafe in Goodland KS, we parked our bikes and headed in. It was a Monday morning, we didn’t think they’d even be open, but when we walked in the place was packed! It seemed like the whole town was in there eating, everybody knew everyone, having conversations across the restaraunt, calling people by their name. The guy who was working there let us sit down in the middle of the place, I kinda felt everyone looking at us but not in an abrasive way, just curious. Right when we sat down a guy and his wife came up to us and introduced themselves- then they sat down at the table with us and stayed talking with us the whole meal. I was cracking up because that shit would never happen on the west coast. The dude was really cool, he was actually really plugged in to the vintage bike scene in that area, said there was a really good swap meet coming up, told us about a museum that had a bunch of good stuff, he was a Harley guy like us so we immediately talked like friends. We didn’t have the hearts to tell him we were blowing right through Kansas without stopping haha, cause he really wanted to show us the scene.

After breakfast we got on it, this was a whole day of fast paced riding. We both had the same mentality of MILES MILES MILES. We didn’t even eat the rest of the day, just pounded beers when we stopped at the gas stations. We realized Jake could go much farther on his 1.8 gallon frisco sportster tank than he originally thought- we kept pushing it. We had so much extra gas on our bikes that we would just ride until Jake ran out on the freeeway (there was never any cars around), then fill up our bikes with our spare gas and do another tank. This dramatically increased our pace. We started going 80 miles, 85, 88, 90. We couldn’t believe it, his bike was so dialed and he was getting such good mileage, now we could basically ride 160 miles per gas station- that’s like riding modern bikes haha.

Approaching the eastern end of Kansas as the sun was setting was a pretty amazing. We were stoked to blast through the border into Missouri that night. We crushed a beer in Topeka and got ready for pushing into the city. It was dark now and we wanted to get gas right before KC, MO so we could get onto the other side and find a place to stay. We were jamming on the freeway at sometime that night when my headlight goes out, my bike died so we pull of to the shoulder. I kinda knew it was my shitty headlight that was the problem- it was one of those things that I never really did “well” on my bike, the wiring was twist and tape (my signature) and the headlight bezel was missing the weather gasket.

To be honest, I really didn’t think we’d be riding much at night on this trip. I figured it was a leisure trip, we were basically “on vacation” so I pictured us riding when we wanted, and daytime is so rad because you can see your surroundings. The first day was a slap in the face haha - we were gonna be riding late into the night every day of the trip, it was the only way to make it to Charlotte on time and get our miles in each day. You can always count on small problems holding you up.

The problem with my headlight was comical. Without a headlight gasket, the light was free to move with vibration a lot, it began rotating inside the bucket, it spun around in circles for thousands of miles haha. When I removed it the wiring was all twisted up and it finally blew. Jake took a video of me unwinding it in the dark on the freeway haha we laughed for days about it.

We kicked the bikes and merged back onto Highway 70, we were in Lawrence, KS getting pretty close to the border. We stopped for gas at the sketchiest gas station I have been at in years, right outside Kansas City, MO. There was a homeless dude laying on the ground tweaking, a random guy painting the curbs outside the store at 10 pm, and other random guys standing in the dark on the outskirts of the pumps. We pulled in and gassed up, didn’t take helmets off, trying to get outta there fast. We started noticing the dudes on the perimeter closing the gap between us hahaha, we felt surrounded almost like something was gonna go down. Jake kicks his bike and it doesn’t start, perfect timing, his gun was deep in his pack and it wouldn’t be easy to get if we needed it.

His bike finally starts and we get the fuck outta there. That was the last time we stopped for gas close to a big city, we didn’t need random trouble, we had enough on our hands riding these bikes.

KC, MO is a dope city, we rode through at night, everything was lit up, its kinda a maze of freeway changes and on/off ramps, if we had to get off for something it would have been a pain in the ass. I had the realization that we were REALLY fuckin out here, so far away from California, in the middle of the night on our old ass choppers, what the fuck were we doing? Our success was fully in our hands, we had everything we needed too make this trip and the autonomy and feeling of self sufficiency gave me a huge burst of positive energy.

We made it through KC Mo and onto the other side, it was late AF and we were hungry. We found a late night BBQ spot and got some dinner. When we sat down we ordered victory beers, we checked the mileage for the day and we put in 560 miles. It felt so good to get a big day after the slow day in Colorado. Dinner was really good, pulled pork sandwiches in Missouri, can’t beat it. We grabbed a cheap motel for the night, another day getting by on two wheels. it had been fun riding all day, and I was excited to do it again. I checked my map and realized we were only two days away from our destination. LETS FUCKIN GO.

The motel outside of KC, MO was pretty grimy, but we wanted everything to be cheap on our ride. We always just looked for something close to the freeway on the outskirts of town. I proceed with my morning ritual and grab is coffee, I start my bike and wait for Jake. Strangely, Jake’s bike does not make a sound and won’t start. He kicked over and over again and nothing, we were pretty caught off gaurd after such a flawless day riding yesterday. Something wants making sense. Out come the tools.

We end up taking his whole carb apart, dropping the float bowl, taking his whole mag apart as well. It had to be something simple, his bike was bare bones. I ride across the freeway to an auto parts store to grab some fresh plugs for him. Nothing worked, he dismantled the mag again and we retime. I call my buddy Brian who was familiar with the Joe Hunt auto advance and he provides some clarity- saying you really have to keep advancing there timing far beyond what seems normal for it to be happy.

After hours of wrenching we get the bike started. It's always funny when you wake up ready to ride at 7am and end up being delayed till 11 or 12 working on your bikes before you can get anywhere. haha. We were still stoked- knowing we' would be hitting St. Louis and crossing into Illinois and Kentucky that day, hoping to end in Paducah.

The roads in Missouri weren’t bad, but we ran into a few gas stations that did not have beer which always sucks haha. Of course, we hit St. Louis right at rush hour. I was actually really impressed with the city, it was beautiful and clean. Riding right through near the big stadium with the Arch Halo in the background was really enjoyable. We dodged traffic and split lanes a bit then crossed into Illinois just before dark. In Illinois the terrain got extremely rural- I wasn’t expecting it, we were. blowing through cornfields at sunset and I was really taken by the beauty of the midwest. Lots of rad colors, the bikes had been running great all day. We got off the highway and ended up on some smaller backroads, stopped to piss on the side of the road.

We crossed into Kentucky at some point that night and admired the change of scenery, so many trees and rivers, it’s a really awesome part of the country that to me seems underrated. We ended up getting into Paducah about 10pm that night. We found a pizza spot that was open for dinner. The town was pretty rad, a lot of young people and cool businesses and restaurants. We both ate so much food that night, I don’t think we ate anything all day until arriving in Paducah. The motel we found was pretty nice, and it was one of the cheapest ones of the trip, I think around $79. Can’t beat it.

Waking up in Paducah felt familiar to me after living in TN, the states feel really similar, and we would do a lot of day rides up to Kentucky when I lived out there. I was stoked to hit the border, we were only about 135 miles from Nashville at this point. We were riding Highway 24 which is a really nice scenic ride- lots of lush trees and river crossings, and it drops down into the northern side of downtown Nashville.

We were unsure if we would stay in Nashville that night or keep moving, we were planning to make our goal of being in Charlotte the following day, which would put us at a total of 6 days riding from California to North Carolina. If we continued on through Tennessee today, we would have an easier day tomorrow, and there was a huge flood on I40 that we needed to dodge, so our route was going to be weird since 40 was closed through the Smokey Mountains.

Right at the border we stopped to take a pic at the Tennessee sign, the thick grass was so wet our bikes were really hard to push haha. When we got back on the road, my foot exhaust pipe fell off again. The threads were really weak at this point and it would not hold anymore. I grabbed some safety wire and hung the pipe up into the exhaust manifold from the frame.

We had planned to stop by my buddy J Ryan's shop in North Tennessee on the way in, my buddy Brandon also works with him so it was a great excuse to catch up with old friends.

We pull into J Ryans shop and are greeted with smiles and hugs. J is an incredible builder, fabricator, and painter- he had a bunch of rad shit on the lift to look at, his handmade springers are some of the most beautiful parts I've seen out there today. Brandon had ridden his magneto-powered cone shovel with the 19' rear and split tanks, one of my fav setups he has had for that bike. Brandon was actually preparing for a massive bike trip out west himself- heading to Arizona, Utah, and Nevada with a few guys. We talked about possibly linking up as Jake and I made our way home after going East.

J Ryan was one of the first chopper guys I met in Nashville when I lived there, he has been building and riding choppers for over 20 years I think, I was always pretty stoked whenever we'd ride together because he is so knowledgeable, and is always encouraging to others who aren't as skilled. He's just a down to earth guy, always a good time. He had a whole heli coil kit available for me to fix my front pipe spigot. Super nice of him to help us out on the road.

We hung out for a bit, shot the shit with J and Dawn at their home, then headed into the city to hit Broadway for a beer at Robert's Western World- my favorite bar on the strip ha.

Jake and I were amazed at how shitty the traffic was downtown, I wondered how anybody could enjoy riding a motorcycle in a big city haha, Im so accustomed to living in a small town with wide open roads now. Our bikes were getting so hot sitting in traffic at stoplights, we finally got them parked and went in for a beer.

The music was good but we wanted to get out of the madness and get some dinner, so we rode across the river to Dino's for a burger and to meet Brandon and my other buddy Jake.

Eating at Dino's always brings back a lot of great memories for me, when we lived in Nashville and ate there every week. We had such a good group of people who rode together at that time, and I met some of my closest friends during that period. I wanted to hang out more with Brandon and Jake, but we had to stay on schedule and leave town.

We made the call to ride out after dark and put in at least 150 miles to get into East Tennessee. That way we could wake up and make it to Charlotte earlier.

We pulled into a shitty little motel on I40 in Crossville and got some sleep.

The next morning we had so much positive energy going it was insane- we were on our 6th day and about to make it to our destination- where we had booked a nice Airbnb for the weekend and had our old ladies flying in to go to the Congregation Show with us, my baby boy was also coming, and I was so excited to see him. This was the longest I'd ever been away from him.

We hit the road, going fast on 40, just excited to get there. Jake had ordered at new rear tire and had it sent to our buddies at Prism, he basically wore out a tire just on the first half of our trip ha. We were both pushing our bikes a little harder today- we got back into our groove of riding till Jake ran out of gas and filling up on the side of the road with our spare fuel. Every gas stop we were going farther and farther, at the Buc-ee's outside of Knoxville we added up our last run- Jake rode 95 miles on a 1.8 gallon sportster tank. We could not believe it, I have never heard of a shovel getting that kind of mileage.

We ate the best food ever at Buc-ee's, my first time there. Such a great American establishment haha.

Since I40 was closed because of the hurricane that literally destroyed towns the previous week, we had to reroute and go north into Bristol TN, then into Virginia, then South into Charlotte. I had actually ridden this route 7 years earlier going out to Twin Rivers Chopper Campout. Its a great ride, and you get to ride through another state which is sweet.

The weather was perfect and the bikes ran great all day, it was one of those days where everything was just working out. Good vibe, good attitudes, and that set the tone. We pull into Charlotte around 4ish and head to the Airbnb that was super close to Prism HQ. It felt good to finally relax and take a shower and be comfortable for a few days. My wife and son pulled in a couple hours later and I give them a big hug.

We had just ridden from California to North Carolina in 6 days. I felt a huge sigh of relief that we had accomplished part of our goal and now got to party. The show was on Saturday and I was stoked to see some close friends and meet new people as well. But the journey was only halfway over- time to see if we could make it home.