I love hanging out at the HUBB. Its sort of like hanging out at the bar with a bunch of people, all of whom have great stories and obscure knowledge and listening to them chat away over . I don't have much to add, usually. I have not, in my own mind, “Seen the Elephant,” and feel a bit out classed. But not in a bad way – it's not an exclusive feeling. I just know when to listen, I guess.


I've been wanting to make a meeting almost since I learned about them. I've been in the Southeast a lot over the years, it's “close” and I have friends there I enjoy visiting. Honestly, it was the meeting I should've aimed for, so naturally I decided I wanted to go to the one in Colorado.


I had to wait a couple years, for the vacation dates to line up nicely. Next year I am planning on joining the Moto-Homeless in July, so there was a certain amount of sense in going this year. So I sent in my registration info and took three weeks off, two before and one after. Then I started looking at other things I wanted to see.


The Grand Canyon, of course. And Moab. And maybe up to Crazy Horse afterward, and the Corn Palace...and then it was 3 weeks before I was supposed to be leaving and I didn't have a route, was under-funded, and work was going to be extra busy in the lead up to departure. Not a great situation, but I was just traveling in the USA, and I have quite a few multi-week trips under my belt, so I didn't really have a sense of panic at all.


Silly me.


I wanted to ride my 1981 sr250 exciter (A bike named Adultery, but not for the reason you think). I haven't ever done a multi-day camping/riding trip on it, but it is the bike I was planning to be homeless on so we needed to spend some time together. I dumped the sorta addresses into mapsourse (Where was the HU Meeting supposed to be again? Oh, and some campgrounds...Oh look carhenge is right there, hmmm...) and told it to make a route. I slide the little “Avoid highways” tab pretty far, liked to mileage I ended up with, and went to worry about something else. No, I didn't actually look at the route. Why should I? Jeez.


Next was some frantic packing. Not really frantic, I know what to bring and the list gets a little smaller each time, but I have been using a xs1100 with a fairing and hard luggage for the last couple of years. My stuff doesn't fill that bike, but it was a lot on the Exciter.





I wasn't happy with the load. I also had two ammo can I had modified to use as sidecases, but had been having problems with the brackets. I was also feeling sick – feverish. I did actually have a fever, and I think it was clouding my head, since I decided, even though the ammo cans were a bad idea, I would re-install them and use them on the trip – the day before I was supposed to leave. So I did.






so this was the bike as I was ready to leave in the morning. I was leaving 3 hours later than I wanted – since I had gone to bed later and was still feeling fuzzy I had decided to sleep more. I was still thinking I would manage 500-600 miles before stopping – 200-300 miles further than I had ever gone in one day on this bike. I was not in the best mental place.


Oh, and yeah. I still wasn't happy with the load. The cases weren't full, it was the stuff on the back. Well, and the cases. All well, I was off.


I wasn't on the road long when I began to wonder what Mr Garmin was thinking. I did keep following it though, it was generally in the right direction. I just wanted to get some miles. I was still fuzzy, so I was drinking soda at a rate much higher than normal, which is about 2 a week. Still, When I got to the first gas stop I dropped the bike (Really? I thought to myself...) on the right side. No real damage, the brake lever was bent a little but no big deal. I got fuel and decided to stop and have a fruit cup (and another soda). Sitting and looking at the bike I saw -






Looked a little crooked to me, and on inspection of the bolts had disappeared. There was a hardware store not far way, so I bought some safety wire and threw some loops around the offending area.






I will also admit to feeling like crap. It was dreary and overcast, and Mr Garmin's route (Okay, it was the route I told it to make, don't confuse the issue) had me on...well the county roads were the big ones. It was pretty, but I wasn't making any sort of miles. I stopped the routing and looked at a map, deciding to move to US routes (Better than prolonged interstate), and hit the road again.


I stopped for lunch which was going to be a picnic in a park, but I was still feeling off and decided I would get real food in a little diner. It was good, but as I was feeling sick it gave everything an off taste.


On bigger roads I was finally making some miles, and crossed into Iowa. I hadn't planned it, but my new route had me passing the National Motorcycle Museum so I thought I would stop. I...I am sad to admit I almost didn't. I felt such a need to make miles. But I did.


I'd been to Wheels Through Time earlier this summer, and have been to the Barber Museum. The museum in Iowa was decent, but I wasn't in the best mental frame of mind for it. I did like the steam powered bike -






People came over in the parking lot to comment on the little bike and big load. Sturgis was going on around this time, and I guess a BMW rally somewhere. Sadly it was all something of a haze. I got back on the road, unsure how much farther I would actually go, and frankly I was thinking about going home. I hadn't even been on the road 12 hours.


I stopped to take some more pics somewhere, this one I like -






Another fuel stop, and I was heading south and west again. The bike was feeling a bit funny, but I blamed it on the grooved road surface. This was optimistic, as it turned out -






Obviously that was affecting my handling. I sat for a few minutes to drink some water. Then set to getting it all back together again.




Broken hook replaced (I had spares with)




Rack bent back straight

Considerably more safety wire applied




Straps added to take the weight




And re-packed.


Okay, right here I should've headed for a campground, gone to bed early, and rethought my plan the next day. But it was too much, and I pointed the bike back home. I simply wasn't together enough to keep going, I think. And I've spent a few years doing endurance riding, so I do have a tendency to abort rather than wait.


I get home without any more problems (Which I wouldn't even notice for a few days), and much faster. And then I spend a few days resting and thinking about what all went wrong. And then I decide I still have 2plus weeks off, and still want to head to the southwest. So the touring bike is packed and I once again hit the road.

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I write books about motorcycle travel. Small, cheap, motorcycle travel. Also superheroes.