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North America, First and Second.
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OnHellas
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Re: North America, First and Second.
I’m sure you’ve noticed, as I have, that the photos are all the wrong way around.
For some reason I’ve decided to hold my phone upright instead of turning it 90 degrees. Sorry about that, I will try harder.
The little blue dot is above Ozark, Arkansas. That’s where we are now, Wednesday the 8th of May.
Fingers crossed it’s nit raining as hard in the morning as it did for the last 70 miles of today’s ride.
For some reason I’ve decided to hold my phone upright instead of turning it 90 degrees. Sorry about that, I will try harder.
The little blue dot is above Ozark, Arkansas. That’s where we are now, Wednesday the 8th of May.
Fingers crossed it’s nit raining as hard in the morning as it did for the last 70 miles of today’s ride.
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OnHellas
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Re: North America, First and Second.
The weather reports on TV did not make good viewing. Thunderstorms, floods and tornadoes all with in 150/200 miles of us.
Luckily we’d chosen the route we’d chosen and not gone east to Memphis as things may have been different.
Anyway, they were how they were so no drama. It just brings it home to you what weather can be. Coming from the South East of England I think it’s fair to say that we don’t have ‘weather’ like other parts of the world do.
Thursday morning was full and overcast but not actually raining. It wasn’t overly warm either when we left, about 10 degrees C.
The Pig trail would be superb on a nice dry day but wet/damp patchy road surface with leaves, gravel and mud washed down from the banks made it a more sedate, lets get to the other end of the Pig Trail kind of a ride.
Nice though.
We still hadn’t bought any chain lube but there is a Harley Davidson shop in Eureka Springs at the northern end of The Pig Trail.
Highway 23 to give it its other name.
So, I know most HD’s are belt drive, but not all. They’d have chain lube.....wrong. They didn’t even have a bike! The shop was full of HD merchandise. T-Shirts, bandanas, chrome bits etc.
However, we were directed to a classic bike shop a couple of miles up the road. Result.
The shop had chain lube, various types in cans of various size. They even had some Harley branded stuff.
The look of the shop told a story but ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ is always one to remember.
What all the cans had in come was age, lots of it. I chose a small van that was still in its cellophane wrapping, paid the $2 and off we went.
Next stop lunch....where I found that the prehistoric tin of chain lube had lost something over the years, the propellant to send the lovely lube chain bound.....Lunch then.
The place we’d stopped outside was a Mexican. Book and cover again but we were hungry. Low expectations may have helped but Wow! The food was superb....the day was looking up.
The rest of the ride whilst still a bit chilly was great, with the satnav set to the shortest route we ended up on some single track farm roads, no traffic, a few farm dogs but no hassle. Carthage was reached in good time, chain lube was located, purchased and applied so our chains were happier although mine is starting to look a bit worn out. I adjusted it as well but after a little over 22,000 miles a new one is probably going to be a good purchase.
I also bought and fitted a new headlamp bulb because earlier in the day we’d commented that one hadn’t blown for a long time......bugger!
Carthage is on old Route 66 but we think we’ll have a look at some of that a bit further west. Kansas City was next, the next morning was all blue sky. Still not warm but we left late and just used the interstate. The 155 miles wizzes by although we were just about the slowest vehicles out there. 65mph is enough....I must be getting old.
Hotel reached, new satnav bought for Sarah as hers stopped working a while back....other chores done.
Today is Saturday, race day. NASCAR at the Kansas Speedway.....we’ve got earplugs.
Two happy people, two happy bikes.
Luckily we’d chosen the route we’d chosen and not gone east to Memphis as things may have been different.
Anyway, they were how they were so no drama. It just brings it home to you what weather can be. Coming from the South East of England I think it’s fair to say that we don’t have ‘weather’ like other parts of the world do.
Thursday morning was full and overcast but not actually raining. It wasn’t overly warm either when we left, about 10 degrees C.
The Pig trail would be superb on a nice dry day but wet/damp patchy road surface with leaves, gravel and mud washed down from the banks made it a more sedate, lets get to the other end of the Pig Trail kind of a ride.
Nice though.
We still hadn’t bought any chain lube but there is a Harley Davidson shop in Eureka Springs at the northern end of The Pig Trail.
Highway 23 to give it its other name.
So, I know most HD’s are belt drive, but not all. They’d have chain lube.....wrong. They didn’t even have a bike! The shop was full of HD merchandise. T-Shirts, bandanas, chrome bits etc.
However, we were directed to a classic bike shop a couple of miles up the road. Result.
The shop had chain lube, various types in cans of various size. They even had some Harley branded stuff.
The look of the shop told a story but ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ is always one to remember.
What all the cans had in come was age, lots of it. I chose a small van that was still in its cellophane wrapping, paid the $2 and off we went.
Next stop lunch....where I found that the prehistoric tin of chain lube had lost something over the years, the propellant to send the lovely lube chain bound.....Lunch then.
The place we’d stopped outside was a Mexican. Book and cover again but we were hungry. Low expectations may have helped but Wow! The food was superb....the day was looking up.
The rest of the ride whilst still a bit chilly was great, with the satnav set to the shortest route we ended up on some single track farm roads, no traffic, a few farm dogs but no hassle. Carthage was reached in good time, chain lube was located, purchased and applied so our chains were happier although mine is starting to look a bit worn out. I adjusted it as well but after a little over 22,000 miles a new one is probably going to be a good purchase.
I also bought and fitted a new headlamp bulb because earlier in the day we’d commented that one hadn’t blown for a long time......bugger!
Carthage is on old Route 66 but we think we’ll have a look at some of that a bit further west. Kansas City was next, the next morning was all blue sky. Still not warm but we left late and just used the interstate. The 155 miles wizzes by although we were just about the slowest vehicles out there. 65mph is enough....I must be getting old.
Hotel reached, new satnav bought for Sarah as hers stopped working a while back....other chores done.
Today is Saturday, race day. NASCAR at the Kansas Speedway.....we’ve got earplugs.
Two happy people, two happy bikes.
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OnHellas
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Re: North America, First and Second.
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mark vb
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Re: North America, First and Second.
Hey Paul,
great to see you're now in N. America, and I hope all is good with you both. We'll be watching & looking with much interest as this is also our next plan, in the not-too-distant future
I may well have a few questions to ask when you return! Ride safe.
great to see you're now in N. America, and I hope all is good with you both. We'll be watching & looking with much interest as this is also our next plan, in the not-too-distant future
I may well have a few questions to ask when you return! Ride safe.-
OnHellas
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Re: North America, First and Second.
NASCAR Ally 400 at Kansas Speedway.
Loud, Fast.....and bloody cold!!
For those of you who reckon that they only turn left, how hard can it be....? Go and see one live.
It was loud, they are so fast, a tad short of 180mph lap speed over a mile and a half.
The start was furious enough but as the race went on it got more and more aggressive.
The last restart after a caution flag three laps before the end was the best. Four abreast in to turn one, cars bumper to bumper and door handle to door handle. They all made it around. Incredible.
I must say though that some of the 267 laps weren’t the most exciting thing I’ve ever seen. I do feel a tad guilty encouraging Sarah to stay until the end ‘because it’ll be awesome’ because it wasn’t as awesome as I’d hoped/promised and it was cold.
The afternoon was warm enough but as the race didn’t start until about 7pm and went on in to the dark under floodlights......it got uncomfortably cold.
A massive bag of popcorn and a bagel did nothing to warm us up. Other hardier drunk race fans didn’t seem to notice the low temperatures as to them shorts and T-shirt was the way to go.
Anyway, we stayed until the end, the victors burnout was pretty impressive and overall it was a good experience, although I missed out on a hotdog because the queue was just to long.....I survived though.
Would we go to a NASCAR race again? Definitely.
Would we go next week? Definitely not.
Being able to walk back to our hotel after the event was a result and just about justified breaking the budget for. We also got a few other things sorted out during our stay so overall a good weekend.
Loud, Fast.....and bloody cold!!
For those of you who reckon that they only turn left, how hard can it be....? Go and see one live.
It was loud, they are so fast, a tad short of 180mph lap speed over a mile and a half.
The start was furious enough but as the race went on it got more and more aggressive.
The last restart after a caution flag three laps before the end was the best. Four abreast in to turn one, cars bumper to bumper and door handle to door handle. They all made it around. Incredible.
I must say though that some of the 267 laps weren’t the most exciting thing I’ve ever seen. I do feel a tad guilty encouraging Sarah to stay until the end ‘because it’ll be awesome’ because it wasn’t as awesome as I’d hoped/promised and it was cold.
The afternoon was warm enough but as the race didn’t start until about 7pm and went on in to the dark under floodlights......it got uncomfortably cold.
A massive bag of popcorn and a bagel did nothing to warm us up. Other hardier drunk race fans didn’t seem to notice the low temperatures as to them shorts and T-shirt was the way to go.
Anyway, we stayed until the end, the victors burnout was pretty impressive and overall it was a good experience, although I missed out on a hotdog because the queue was just to long.....I survived though.
Would we go to a NASCAR race again? Definitely.
Would we go next week? Definitely not.
Being able to walk back to our hotel after the event was a result and just about justified breaking the budget for. We also got a few other things sorted out during our stay so overall a good weekend.
-
OnHellas
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Re: North America, First and Second.
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OnHellas
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Re: North America, First and Second.
Boogity, boogity, boogity....lets go racin’ boys!
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