700 miles is pretty admirable. I debated w/ myself over trying for an 'Iron Butt' award, but ultimately decided that it wouldn't really meet my definition of 'fun'. Best I've done is something over 500....not real hard, but adding even 100 would have made a noticeable difference.
Don't ever work on posts like this on someone else's computer without submitting before you walk away....about an hour's worth of typing was lost when I left for awhile.
Not the first mistake I've ever made.
It's vacation so I'm not setting the alarm w/o a good reason, but woke up at 6:08 anyway. Jumped up, grabbed the motel c-breakfast, and headed out about 7:30 into another beautiful day. Gotta keep my speed about 70 to be able to clearly hear the books on CD I've downloaded to the Zune (MS's 'I-pod')....finished Captains Courageous yesterday, and working on Huck Finn today. Sometimes this is a bit frustrating....and here's why.
When you're rich, you can afford to be generous....when you're great, you can afford to be humble....and when you ride a Rocket, you can afford to let a Harley or Wing pass you once in awhile....knowing what you know....but sometimes you want to tell someone what you know.
Now I would never blow past a stuck up jerk who, because of his choice of ride, ignored my friendly wave as he went by. Nor would I ever tuck in behind some hot shot who had to pass right after the on-ramp before he knew how fast I'd be running. I wouldn't push him mile afer mile at 85-90 watching him get beat up by the wind on his helmetless, windshieldless ride to glory,,,,only to float by after 30 miles and watch him escape at the first exit.
I wouldn't do these things.....not in a million years. I can afford it.
Ah...the friendly wave. I've seen a couple discussions of this on the forum. I grew up a 'waver'...everyone in my small Iowa town waved...or almost everyone....just 'what you do'. I've always been pleased that the 'brotherhood' of motorcycling had such an institution and I like the comraderie of acknowledging a kindred spirit....and I used to get mildly annoyed when someone was unresponsive, partly because it usually seemed to be Harley and Wing riders...leading me to believe that a goodly percentage of these guys were either a bit elitist, or simply didn't care about the 'romance' of what they were doing.
After much 'deep thought'....in all fairness, the sheer numbers of bikes on the road now does rather dilute feeling of being a bit of a 'wild one'. Where you used to see 3 other bikes in 50 miles, now you might see ten times that, which translates into a lot of 'high 5s'....entertainment to some, a tiresome bother to others.
Also, there's a lot in timing. If you wait til the last moment to wave, maybe holding off to see if he's gonna wave first, a lot of riders just miss it and go on by. When I started to be more 'aggressive' and tossing out a friendly 'hey' a couple seconds earlier and saying 'I'll go first, ignore me if you want'...the friendly responses just about doubled.
So there it is....play it like the game it is...a game with only winners and non-players, and some of the non-players are distracted, uninitiated, or have some reason they aren't playing today. Only a few jerks.
All these words and it's still Thursday, still I-84 between LeGrande, OR and Salt Lake City. I haven't ridden all the interstates...not by a fur piece...but if ya gotta do it, Portland to SLC should get an honorable mention for enjoyable scenery and relatively low traffic.
Didn't take a lot of pics today, but I'll put up a train video I shot for the little lady, a farm place, and a petty good sized brush fire I thought was a thunderhead from at least 50 miles away....maybe 100.
I'm pretty sure I saw a couple Tigers heading W on I-84 somewhere near Boise early today....June 21....they did wave and it'd be fun to find out who they were.
Even losing an hour to the time dhange, frequent stops for gas and refreshments, and an hour nap in a shady rest area, managed about 500 miles today. The Rockets almost overwhelming inability to show decent respect for posted speed limits does make for good distance without much effort. Rolled into SLC about 6:30 local time.
Too bad I didn't call Paula before settling in for the night....her son, Jared took a bump in SLC during his flights to St. Louis and ended up staying about 2 miles from me...only he got a nicer room....for free.
Being used to 40 degree nights and 80 days, I was pretty surprised to discover that I"d been riding in97 degree heat in Utah. I'd noticed the hot feet and legs even on the freeway, but had been blaming heavy boots, leathers, and the 2,293rd cc.
Hopefully I'll get less windy pretty soon....once my philosophizing is exhausted.
