Sloshing my way to Indy.

[pacman]

When it was raining the morning that I headed out, I should have recognized it for the bad omen that it was. I'll ride out of it in a little while, I told myself. I was right only to a small degree.

My route took me north through Ft. Worth and Denton, then east on 82 over to Sherman/Denison. Leaving the house without eating breakfast, I decided to make a stop at Starbucks in Sherman. I had a delicious cream cheese danish and a small cuppa.

I split the rain northbound on 75, and crossed the Red River for the first time this trip. The rain stuck with the me through these mundane parts of the first leg of my trip, Burleson to Eureka Springs. As I was rolling though southeastern OK and western AR, the rain finally stopped, but the clouds lingered. It's a good thing, too. I routed myself onto some backroads just to keep things interesting, and they ended up being some of the roughest roads I've ridden on a street bike. The ZRX was definately out of its element, and my butt was paying the price. Things would have gotten pretty dicey on those roads if it had been raining. A little while later, I would hook up with the Pig Trail in Ozark, AR, and have my first real fun of the trip.

I stopped for lunch in Lavaca, AR, after passing through Fort Chaffee. I spotted this litte diner while passing through, so I dove in at the last moment, almost missing the turn.

It would all turn out to be worth it, though, because as I was finishing up my burger, a stranger approached me and asked it I was riding the ZRX parked outside. Cautiously, I said yes, and he grinned a little bit and said he wanted to talk to me and would wait outside while I finished up. Weird, I thought. I was just a little bit nervous about what the dude was up to. When I got outside, he told me had a ZRX in his garage and wanted to show it to me. Follow me, he said. More red flags, and I got a little more nervous. I asked him how far away he lived and he indicated it was just a few blocks away there in Lavaca. The guy and the friend that was with him looked pretty harmless, so I decided to have a little faith in humanity and give it a shot, but remained quite cautious and kept my guard up. When we pulled up to his house, it turned out to be a very nice house in a very nice part of town. Not a complete guarantee of safety, but I felt a little better. I still parked my bike facing out of the driveway so I could make a quick getaway. As I was dismounting he opened his garage to show his ZRX, and this is was I beheld.

Holy bike collection, Batman! This guys has a sickness. A GOOD sickness! His collection was amazing. Seems like most of the machines were 80s Japanese bikes, but there were quite a bit of 60s and 70s Brittish iron as well. I remember seeing 2 CBX's (one with 1 mile on the odo, never fueled, oiled or started), several others with less than 1 miles and never started, a perfect Ascot twin, and 1100F, several BSA's, a Suzuki Cobra, and of course the lovely ZRX, complete with European red body work and custom painted to match Corbin Beetlebags.

There were about 15 bikes in all, none with more than 4,000 miles. All registered and ready to ride at a moments notice, and all looking brand spanking new. All I could do was say wow over and over. I sure was glad I decided to take a chance and follow him home.

Unfortunately, I couldn't stay and drool on old bikes all day. I needed to get on the road, and AR23 was less than an hour away! I wended my way through Ozark and under I-40, I was finally on the Trail! After seeing the surface condition of other AR roads on the way up, I was a little worried about what kind of shape the Trail would be in. No problems there, though. 23 was as smooth and pristine as ever. After enjoying the fast sweepers and tight switchbacks for about 30 miles, I made a pit stop at Turner Bend. I needed to pick up a Pig Trail sticker. While there, I met a nice fellow who had retired to AR from Houston. He lives just a few miles down the road from Tuner Bend, just off the Trail. Talk about a change for the better! (Sorry you Houstonites )

Crossing the Mulberry River at Turner Bend.

The best kind of warning sign.

I rolled into ES at about 3:30. And rode around for while taking in the sights. It had been a great ride, except for the rain that morning. It was a nice warm-up for the long ride tomorrow. I stayed at the Swiss Village Inn, a TWT rally favorite.

The place was pretty empty. In fact it was very empty. Make that COMPLETELY EMPTY. I was the only guest there when I checked in at about 4:30. I expected the lot to fill up as the evening wore on, but it didn't. Only one other person checked to stay there that night. Must be the slow season.

This is how the parking lot looked when I got there, and how it looked the next morning when I left.

I got everything into the room, then walked down to Sparky's for dinner. It was very good, as usual. It's nice to have a good place to eat within walking distance.

That was it for the first day. Day 2 coming soon!

 

[Gilk51]

Wow. Were all those bikes in the garage red?

 

[Tracker]

 

[MCRyder]

Sometimes a little faith pays off big. Great report, thanks for sharing.

 

[igo-wfo]

Mutha Hay-soose that's a lot of bikes!

We stopped at that same store on the pig trail when we were up there last fall.

 

[pacman]

Wow. Were all those bikes in the garage red?

Every last one of them.

 

[anaconda]

Wow, that's some bike collection!!

 

[pacman]

Second Day

First off, I forgot to include the mileage in the first post: 493 miles.
Day 1 route

Day 2 started out very similar to day 1, only the moisture was in fog form rather than rain. I pulled out of the still-empty Swiss Village Inn parking lot at about 6:30 am. But before I got underway, an ugly hard-starting problem that I thought I had cured reared its ugly head again. I had to resort to bump starting the Rex. To put some icing on the cake, while I was jockeying the bike around for a downhill run I dropped it flat on its side. I scurried around to pick it up and snatched it so quick that I pulled a muscle in my back. Now I was angry and hurting, but at least the bike started right up with a quick bump. There are no pics, though, so I guess I can't be held to anything.

I headed west on 62 towards Mountain Home. The roads were damp with condensation and fog, and visibility was down to about 1/8 mile in some places. I took it very easy.

I cruised for a good little way at a leisurely pace, and eventually succumbed to my hunger and pulled in to The Front Porch Buffet, in Yellville, AR. Had a huge buffet-style breakfast, and took a few minutes to admire the river and a family of ducks having a little morning nap.

The fog had cleared off, so now it was time to make some tracks. I buzzed through Mountain Home and Salem, and finally crossed into MO on HWY 9 at Mammoth Spring. A little further up in Thayer, MO, I cut off onto 142, which I now fondly refer to as Roller Coaster Rd. As MO roads tend to do, this one undulated up and down through the countryside. In MO, flattening out the hills for the sake of a flat road is not often done. They just let the road follow the terrain. 142 was a blast. I didn't stop once from Thayer all the way to Doniphan. Sorry, no pics - I was having too much fun.

I continued east on secondary roads, but nothing too interesting. I eventually ended up on the slab again at Sikeston, MO. A little while later I crossed the Mississippi River near Cairo, IL.

The Mighty Mississippi. As I rode across, I tried to count how many times I've crossed the Mississippi. I've crossed it many times on I-10 and I-20, probably 30 to 40 times. This was the first time on I-57. I would cross it one more time on the way home on yet another road.

I put the camera away for the afternoon slab-blast into Indianapolis. If you ever begin to get depressed about the flatness and straightness of Texas roads, just take a quick trip to eastern Illinois and western Indiana, and you'll change your entire prespective about Texas roads. You'll appreciate the surface more too. Those northern roads are one pothole, heave, and expansion strip after another.

This was the scene when I pulled into the hotel. Bikes everywhere! Over the next couple of days, the ZRX's would gradually crowd everything else out of the covered parking. Darn things kept multiplying.

That wraps up day 2. For me, it was a long one. 597 miles.
Day 2 route

 

[Texason]

You sure pack light for such a big trip!

 

[pacman]

You can shove a ton of socks and underwear in that tank bag.

 

[Squeaky]

It's ok, the ZRX just wanted to act like Bill's Strom in AR. You probably hurt your back stooping down that low to pick it up, since you're like eight feet tall and everything.

 

[beardking]

Holy tankbag Batman (sorry to steal your expression), how on earth do you see over that thing??

Nice ride report so far. Looks like loads of fun (except the rain and dropping the bike and hard starting and hurting yourself) and I'm looking forward to the rest of it.

 

[pacman]

You probably hurt your back stooping down that low to pick it up, since you're like eight feet tall and everything.

Holy tankbag Batman (sorry to steal your expression), how on earth do you see over that thing??

Being eight feet tall and all, I don't even notice it's there.

The best thing about it is having something to lie down on while blasting down the interstate. Sometimes a little nap is just what you need to get you through the boring times.

 

[donroger1]

You can shove a ton of socks and underwear in that tank bag.

Don't forget the underseat storage. It's cavernous on a ZRX............

 

[voyagerrider]

Wayne,
Great report, keep it up. Lots like the weather did not cooperate with you, have you dried out yet?
All those old bikes were neat. I saw what looked like a Yamaha XS650 and older Triumph T-bird in the mix.
Kathy and I stayed at the same place in Eureaka Springs a few years ago, nice place.
Marty

 

[Texason]

Holy tankbag Batman (sorry to steal your expression), how on earth do you see over that thing??

Nice ride report so far. Looks like loads of fun (except the rain and dropping the bike and hard starting and hurting yourself) and I'm looking forward to the rest of it.

I have a "two-story" Nelson Rigg bag just like that. Somehow I could use it on my Suzuki GS500 but it does not fit/work on my Honda ST1300.

 

[pacman]

Day 3, 4 and 5 - Practice qualifying, and racing
Time for some track action. Despite the rain, we spent the next day at the track. There was practice for all classes going on, so we were determined to get a look at them. Not too much to talk about, so I'll let the pics do the talking.

The parking we secured with our ZRXOA group purchase was awesome! We parked on the back stretch of the oval, literally right on the track! For some reason I didn't get a shot of it, but let me tell you, it was pretty cool seeing 4 or 5 rows of bikes each about 1/4 mile long. Probably not something you'll anywhere else. It was really cool deal until, that is, the 70mph wind gusts came through Sunday afternoon. Then we had a bit of a domino effect. I stole this shot from one of the ZRX guys.

Luckily, no ZRX's were harmed in the process.

Getting gear bagged up for gear check-in.

IMS had the gear check-in process set up very nicely. It was a quick and smooth operation. There were enough of the gear huts around the facility that the one we used never seemed to be over crowded. The only thing I might have changed would have been to provide a covered area to get undressed and dressed. It sucks getting rained on while you're trying to gear up.

What better way to start out than with some Kawasaki race hardware?

Some Ducati bling in the vendor area.

I think this is Colin Edwards, signing some autographs and tossing some t-shirts to the crowd.

The view from our seats. We could see turns 1 through 5 from where we were sitting. Great seats. Most of the crashes were right in front of us.

A little perspective on the size of the track.

Sweet, retro Red Bull bus. I think this is a 50's era coach.

A zoomed-in shot of the back stretch from our seats. Earlier in the day we watched the riders stop on this section and practice their starts. It was also funny to see Pedrosa get booed and heckled when he took his turn. When he came to a stop, the crowd opened up on him pretty good.

More random action shots.

The Indy skyline from the upper deck of the South Vista Grandstands.

In the evenings back at the hotel, we had a great time just hanging out, drinking some cold beverages and grilling some tasty chow.

The gentleman you see sitting on the tailgate was a media consultant for several of the MotoGP riders. He mentioned Hayden and Rossi specifically. He handles their websites and advises them of matters pertaining to media and sponsors. He had some very interesting inside information about the teams and riders, and well as some fascinating 1st hand perspectives about the weekends racing activities.

He was traveling with another gentleman and his wife who did similar work, but I was never quite clear on the exact nature of his work. He was definately a MotoGP and F1 insider, though. Him and his wife:

Both men were English, and regaled us with tales of their world travels following the F1 and MotoGP series'. The conversation we had with them was some of the most interesting and entertaining of the weekend.

I took very few pics on raceday. The rain and wind was so strong, that I was worried I would ruin my camera. Here's a few of some of the ZRX hooligans on race day.

For some really great shots of the racing action taken with a very nice camera, check out this link. Much better than anything I could have done.

http://www.zrxoa.org/forums/showthread.php?p=2455048#post2455048

A few more to come....stay tuned.

 

[anaconda]

What a great trip, looks like a lot of fun!!
I almost had a flashback when I saw the photos of the fallen bikes (and for the same reason--wind!!!) I'll get to that when I post Day 5 on the Scotland ride report.

 

[gixxerjasen]

Looks like a great time. That gear checkin looks like a fantastic idea. I wish they would have had that when I went to Birmingham a few years ago. Carrying my gear around really sucked.

 

[Plane Dr]

I wimped out and took a plane. Next year I am considering making the trek. I was at the other end of the track in H. It was a good spot watching them come off the back corners and head down the straight.

Gear would have been nice given the RC8's at the KTM demo trailer.

A couple of my Shots.

And of course;

 

[pacman]

Days 6 and 7. Homeward.

Day 6 was a short hop for me, from Indy down to Henderson, Kentucky. One of my lifelong friends lives there, and I hadn't seen him in a couple years. I was too close not to visit.

It was back on the secondary roads for this leg of my trip. The further south I went, the more lovely Indiana got. Sadly, though, there really wan't much to take pics of. Here's couple as I got closer to Kentucky.

Crossing the Ohio River.

Rolling into Henderson.

I grabbed lunch and a tank of gas, then made my way to my friends house. It was good to see him again.

Him, his wife, and a couple of their munchkins.

He's a pastor and attorney by training, but hasn't really settled on what he's going to do with himself. He took me out to show me the town, and we pretty much ended up hopping from one church to another, enjoying some very nice architecture in the process.

Rail bridge across the Ohio, near the riverfront park.

A couple of Henderson churches.

We had a great time catching up, and sat around talking and laughing half the night. It's always wonderful to spend time with old friends. Other than siblings, these childhood relationships can be some of the longest in our lives. Often, your childhood friends know you better than anyone else.

I hit the road early the next day, and an interesting thought occurred to me: Should try to make it all the way in one shot? I wasn't sure exactly how far it was, but I was guessing somewhere around 800 miles. The farthest I'd done so far was 597 on the way to Indy the week before. I was pretty sure I could do 800. I decided to think about it for a bit while I enjoyed the Kentucky countryside. There really wasn't a fast way to get out of Kentucky from Henderson going to the west, so I decided to just enjoy the back roads for a least a couple of hours while I pondered what my butt and back would feel like after 800 miles on the big, red Zed.

I passed a couple of these contraptions, and began to wonder what the heck they were. I eventually decided they must be some kind of grain or corn conveyor. One of them stretched for miles and eventually ended up at a silo complex.

I crossed the Ohio for the second time, and then minutes later crossed the Mississippi again. This was the first time I have seen the the actual fork when the two merge together. You can see a hint of the Mississippi to the right in the third picture. I wasn't able to stop and get a good pictures of the merge.

I stopped shortly after that so gas up, and that's when I made the call. I was going to make a home shot. I was in Charleston, MO, so I called a friend and had him google the distance to Burleson. 636 miles. It was noon, so that would theoretically put me at home by 10 o'clock that night. That's doable. Let's go for it!

What this meant was that I was slabbing, and I wasn't stopping for anything but fuel. I got on I-55, blasted down to I-40 in Memphis, and then picked up I-30 in Little Rock. I rolled in to Burleson at about 9:30 that night. I wasn't especially tired, but I was hurting. Bad. I have a herniated disk in my back, and no amount of Ibuprofen was touching it. I can usually keep it in check with 400mg every 4 hours or so, but after about mile 600, it was Painville all the way. My Airhawk cushion is the only thing that kept me alive. All told, I ended up doing 787 miles that day, including the stint on those beautiful Kentucky 2-lanes from Henderson to Charleston, MO.

I didn't take a single picture the rest of the day. The only thing I was focused on was making it home. I saw it as a challenge and I wanted to see if I could rise to it. I did, barely. I don't know if I could have made it 1000 miles. I think an Iron Butt is within reach on the ZRX, but it won't be fun.

 

[anaconda]

[qoute]I ended up doing 787 miles that day[/quote]

 

[IDR]

Great story telling. Enjoyed the whole tale. Someone told me the bike noise at a MotoGP was unbelievably loud. Did you have to wear ear plugs?

 

[pacman]

Great story telling. Enjoyed the whole tale. Someone told me the bike noise at a MotoGP was unbelievably loud. Did you have to wear ear plugs?

I wore plugs when the 250s and 800c, but not with the 125s. I was surprised at how many did not wear plugs, and shocked at how many brought their small children and did put plugs in their ears.