July '09 my "Meeting new people" roadtrip... lots of pics! (6/6)

[thirdgenlxi]

Ok last one, I promise! Well, for tonight at least, lol (yes, there's more, these 6 are just the main ones with decent pics. Other ones aren't that great)

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And man did I ever meet a lot of new people on this trip... it was great!! Had an awesome time, got to meet some great people, and even added a new state to my "visited on my bike" list, bringing my total up to 19 so far

Anyways... on with the pics

Saturday June 27th... Old Faithful is all packed up and ready to hit the road. I wanted to try and leave early cuz I knew it was gonna be super hot that day. Didn't end up leaving as early as planned, but left around 6:30 so it wasn't too bad. I had wanted to try and avoid the mid day heat, but it ended up being up to roasting temps by 10:00 anyways so it didn't make much difference, lol

Always a beginning odo shot at the start of every roadtrip

Just south of Paducah, Kentucky.... it was so hot (around 95 + humid) I had to stop and take a break for awhile. I was getting hungry anyways

Made it to my dads house in Decatur, Illinois (central IL) by late afternoon/early evening. Was I ever ready for a nice cool shower when I got there! hahah

An air compressor that takes credit cards?? Definitely the first time I've seen that

Now here comes a big gaping hole in pictures.... I went up to Bloomington, IL monday night to meet up with some guys and hang out and ride for a lil bit. Stupid me, ran out of the house and completely forgot to bring my camera...doh! Anyways, I met up with Kurtis from 600rr.net and he brought his friend Matt along too. We rode around for awhile then went and met up with his brother and we all rode around for awhile, then went back to his place and hung out and relaxed for awhile. They had to take off, so I left and got ahold of another guy there in Bloomington, Justin from cbrforum.com. I had tried to meet up with him when I was up there back in November, but he was busy with schoolwork and couldn't meet up then. But this time he had nothing going on, so we met up and went and grabbed something to eat and hung out until about 1am. Good times!

Tuesday afternoon I was supposed to meet up with another guy from 600rr.net in Decatur, but I couldn't get ahold of him and he never returned my call, so we never got to meet up. So I made my way up to northern Illinois to see my mom. I took the rural route and went through some of the old towns I used to live in along the way. I made a stop in Sandwich, IL and met up with Bill from cbrjunkie.com. We hung out for a lil bit then headed over to the SantaFe Mexican Restaurant to get something to eat

Continued on route and made my way into my moms, closer to Chicago

Wednesday night... yea unfortunately there's another big gaping hole of pics here too.... stupid me for got my camera at home, again! I went and met up with a guy from chicagolandsportbikes.com in Palos Hills, IL and we rode to Portillos in Elmhurst for bike night. Once we got there I also met up with Tony from cbrjunkie.com. Bill (from the night prior) also came out too, and brought a friend as well. We all hung out at bike night and had a great time

Stayed there for a few days and pretty much just relaxed and helped my mom with a few things. Friday the 3rd I started to make my way back down to central IL back to my dads place. I took a detour over to Henry, IL and met up with Larry from 600rr.net

After we rode around for a lil bit, his friend Dan met up with us and we all rode around a little more, then went over to get a pizza

Dan had to take off after that, so Larry and I rode over to Roanoke, IL. They were doing their fireworks show on the 3rd, plus having a classic car show as well. We get there just in time for the fireworks, so we grabbed a drink and watched those. After they were all done, everybody was getting up to leave and somehow (I didn't see it happen), 4 people ended up getting run over by a car. This whole big crowd of people just started running down the street over to this car, and a group of guys picked up the whole side of the car and yanked the people out from under it. Since all the emergency personnel was already right across the river where the fireworks show was, it was only a minute or two before the street we were on was flooded with ambulances, firetrucks, police cars, etc. We decided it was time to get outta there, lol

A storm came through later that night, and it ended up raining alllllll night long and most of the day saturday. It was late when we got back so I just stayed the night at Larrys place friday night. We get up saturday morning and we're sitting there eating breakfast, and his phone rings.... it's a friend of his... "hey.... I kinda got a problem"

So we finish breakfast, then leave and go over to get his 4x4 truck, and head over and meet his friend over by Peoria, who was quite happy to see us. We get there, and find the problem to be....

This:

This is the ravine down below.... it was a good 15-20ft drop and straight down

If you look closely, the ONLY thing holding the truck there is that little tree stump it's pressing up against. Had that not been there, the truck would have slid down into the ravine. The RF wheel was dangling over the edge. This mud was super slippery and with deep ruts, even the 4x4 truck was sliding all over the place. The Ranger was a 4x4 as well, but it wasn't working so it was essintially a 2wd, lol

Luckily, we had a winch (this guy pulls people out all the time, or himself sometimes, lol). Absolute lifesaver, and saved the day for sure!

WooHoo! Success! Only damage was a bent up licence plate... no biggie

But we still had to get out.... it was a good 1/2 mile or so to get to the paved road, and this muddy road was in absolute hellacious condition, with huge ruts and holes everywhere. We were bouncing and sliding all over the place even in the 4x4. We went first and the Ranger followed so that we could pull it if need be. It got stuck a few times along the way, and we thought we were gonna have to hook the strap up and tow it

But they were able to rock it some and it made it out all on it's own

Success once again!

This was the road going in.... pretty nasty since it rained pretty hard the entire night prior, and all day that day so far

I went back to my dads in Decatur later saturday afternoon after the rain stopped. Sunday afternoon after washing and waxing my sisters car for her, I left my dads and made my way out to Columbus, Ohio

Anybody remember my roadtrip up north back in November?? For those that don't.... it was freakin COLD!! I was doing this exact same route, and I made a stop in Montezuma, Indiana around 1:30 in the afternoon, and this was the highest temp I saw all day

So since I was taking the same route, I made another stop in there to snap a pic. Most definitely a little more comfortable of a trip this time! haha

[thirdgenlxi]

Made a stop at a truck stop in Dayton, Ohio.... I couldn't believe it, for a decent sized truck stop.... 4 gas pumps

Made it out to Columbus, Ohio just a little after 9pm and met up with my buddy Vinny from cbrjunkie.com

Didn't do too much sunday night.... Vinnys roomate cooked us some dinner using deer meat, it was actually really good! Hung out for a little bit then went to bed... we were both tired

Monday morning we got up and headed over to one of our favorite breakfast spots

After breakfast, we headed here

This place is freakin awesome!! The building is an old Big K-Mart building, so you can imagine how big this place is, and it's allllll motorcycle stuff. Real good prices too! Clearance section rocks! But we had a reason for coming here.... Vinny's GF was taking the MSF class several days later, so she needed to get some riding boots

We caught Vinny doing a little modeling action.... ROFL

A little later on in the afternoon Vinny and I went for a little ride.... he said there were some really good roads not too far away. He was right! Ohio, especially in the southeastern part, has some kick ass little roads! I was quite surprised

He took me down to Hocking Hills, near Logan, Ohio. There's a state park there along with some kick ass roads... had a great time! We stopped at a gas station right before we got to Hocking Hills and we switched bikes... Vinny let me ride his '09 Phoenix 600RR through the twisties....awesome bike!!

We stopped at the state park to take a short break, switch bikes and then head back home

We were trying to be back home by around 6-6:30 or so because Vinny had a leak in his tire. He found a guy in town that would put a mushroom patch on it, but we had to be there by no later than 8:00. The Hocking Hills trip ended up taking a little longer than originally planned, and we didn't get back to Vinnys house until a little after 7:00. We still had to take the wheel off the bike and drive over to the guys house, so we hauled ass trying to get the wheel off (it's alot easier on my bike... errrr). But we get it off by about 7:15, wash up and we're on our way

Dude was real cool and got the tire all fixed up no probs. We get back and get the bike all back together. We had a hell of a time getting the rear axle to go back in, only to find out the chain was waaaaaaay too tight (from the dealer... he hasn't touched it since he bought the bike a few months ago)

Sunday night... hungry again. Vinny and I head into downtown Columbus and get some pizza at Hound Dogs Pizza. We were both starving, but apparently both of our eyes were bigger than our stomachs, we were stuffed! Bungee cord to the rescue, no food wasted!

Vinny gave me the grand tour of downtown Columbus, then we headed over to where he works at to meet up with one of his co-workers. She just got an '08 Ninja 250 not long ago. So we're all sitting there hanging out in the parking lot talking, and Vinny says to his co-worker.... "hey Jared has never ridden a two-fiddy before, can he take your bike for a ride??". She kinda looked around for a second, then said "uhh yea I guess so". I just rode it around the parking lot (it's a huuuuuge parking lot). Holy crap was it alot different than what I'm used to! LOL Totally gutless, but very lightweight. Would still make a kick ass mountain toy

Tuesday morning Vinny and I found ourselves back at Bob Evans for breakfast. MmmMmm pot roast sandwich... good stuff!

After breakfast we relaxed for a little bit, then I took off from Vinnys and headed north

I met up with Corey from cbrjunkie.com in St. Clair, Michigan. I was so happy, I made it through Detroit without getting shot!!

After taking a break for a lil bit, we headed out later on to get something to eat. We headed up to Port Huron, and were gonna go to a Mexican restaurant, but we couldn't find it so we went to Dennys down the street instead. After dinner we went over to the big bridge that crosses over into Canada for some night shots

There's me too

Wednesday afternoon Corey took me out to show me some of the local roads. There's not a ton in the area, but there are some nice spots. We made a stop here... apparently this is where people come to do downhill mountain biking. Guys are freakin crazy... this place is very steep, very rough, very rocky! No thanks! LOL

[thirdgenlxi]

Then we went back to the Canada bridge we were at the night prior in Port Huron

Canada, eh?

To Canada

To USA

After that... lunchtime! No, we didn't go to CC's, just the food court inside the mall, hahah

Later on that night, Coreys mom and grandma treated us to an awesome dinner at this really nice restaurant right on the water in St. Clair. Really good food!

Thursday afternoon... time to head out. Corey had to leave for work, so I thanked him for his hospitality and he was on his way. I hung out for a little while longer, snapped a few pics, then headed out myself

Corey has a kick ass little house right on the river.... beautiful property!

Made a gas stop before getting back on the highway... saw this truck pull in and had to snap a pic. Never in my life, in all my travels, have I ever seen trucks/trailers with this many axles until I came to Michigan. Trucks like this were all over! Vinny was telling me these trucks are illegal to drive on the roads in Ohio... not sure about other states

Making my way back to Vinnys in Columbus..... got stuck right at the beginning of this slooooowww moving freight train along Old Rt. 23 in BFE, Ohio, lol

Vinny was at work until 11pm, so in the meantime I met up with Nick from cbrjunkie.com. We met up at Iron Pony Motorsports cuz he wanted to look at some new gear. After that we headed out to get something to eat

After that I went back to Vinnys for the night.... he came home and we watched an iridium flare go across the sky... it was pretty cool!

Friday morning I had to head out and make my way back towards Atlanta, Georgia. I left Vinnys about 9am, and decided to take the scenic route home. Alot of it is still interstate highway, but I-77 is a freakin awesome interstate through WV and VA compared to I-75... straight and booooorrrring. I made my way down Hwy 33 into the southeastern part of Ohio... there's really some nice areas here!

Shortly after I crossed the Ohio river and into West Virginia. Oddly enough, right after I crossed the bridge and followed the road around to the left, the first thing I see after crossing into WV is a big old run down trailer park.... go figure! hahah

Whoa... who would have thought we could get one of the most abundant elements on the planet... for FREE!! (hint of sarcasm.... I hate places that charge for air)

Kanawha Falls, West Virginia... right along the Midland Trail (Hwy 60)

Then I get to where I REALLY wanted to go! This is the New River Gorge Bridge near Fayetteville, WV. This is the longest arch bridge in the western hemisphere... 3,030 ft long

In case you're wondering just how big and deep this gorge really is..... look at the full sized school busses

Some more info on the bridge

New River Gorge Bridge - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stopped in Fayetteville for a nutritious dinner at Sonic, lol. It was 6pm at this point and I was still in the middle of West Virginia, I was starting to wonder if I'd make it all the way back to Georgia that night or not

Got a little bit of rain while going through the mountains in Virginia... no biggie though it was real light

Then later on as I was going through North Carolina, I got a pretty good rainstorm. I hate having to stop and waterproof everything and dig out my rain gear! LOL Oddly enough, right after I left here it stopped raining, and a few miles down the road it was completely dry, go figure. So it all came back off shortly after

Finally made it back home safe n' sound just before 2am

Ending odo shot

Stats..... just a hair over 3400 miles in 13 days

And that's all the pics I got.... had a freakin awesome time!! I love meeting new people on roadtrips!

[DangBruhY]

Looks like a fun time. I don't know how you do it with that riding position.

[thirdgenlxi]

Looks like a fun time. I don't know how you do it with that riding position.

Yea I had a blast on this trip!! Loved meeting all the new people, can't wait to do another like it!

As for the riding position... it's really not as bad as you might think. F4i is actually pretty upright compared to most supersport bikes. Clip-ons are on top of the triple tree compared to underneath like the 600RR and many others, and the footpegs are much lower, so it's actually pretty comfy. The seat does get a little hard after awhile (stock Honda plank, lol), but I've learned ways to move around and still keep my ass from hurting too bad. Last roadtrip I went on in my car my ass was hurting worse after a couple hundred miles and after a couple hundred miles on the bike... maybe I just got more used to it, hahah

That's why I love this bike so much though... I sit and ride so many other bikes, and first thing I say is... absolutely no way I could ride this the way I ride my F4i. It just fits me perfectly

[drew95gt]

That's an awesome ride report...I grew up down in WV down on the Ohio River so it was cool seeing those pics especially.

[Benyen Soljax]

that guy nick from columbus lived down the hall in my apartment building during that summer. i helped him piece together his 954.

[justin0469]

Vinny, Amy and Julie (girl with the 250) are all members here too. Vinny and Amy don't post much though, I just know them and met them a few times thru Julie.

[gravedigger]

Very cool, thanks for sharing !!!!

[warpspeed]

bhahaha i was at this gas station yesterday its 10 miles from me!!!

eaton, oh

awesome pics man!!! you've really had some good experiences. Jealous of that 60k miles!

[juliejuliejulie]

JARED!! I'm sad you didn't put my name in there.. punk At least my (old ) bike got some love!

Awesome pictures though... I can't wait to see what 2010 brings you! (hopefully it's better then the end of 09 ;(. What's the status on the f4i anyway?

[thirdgenlxi]

bhahaha i was at this gas station yesterday its 10 miles from me!!!

eaton, oh

awesome pics man!!! you've really had some good experiences. Jealous of that 60k miles!

Thanks!! Yea I've definitely had some awesome roadtips on my bike... I love it! Definitely nothing I love more than a long roadtrip with just me and my bike. And in these pics it was actually 160k miles, it just doesn't show the "1" cuz it's a 5 digit odometer, and reset to 00000 at 100k. It's at exactly 177,428 as of right now

JARED!! I'm sad you didn't put my name in there.. punk At least my (old ) bike got some love!

Awesome pictures though... I can't wait to see what 2010 brings you! (hopefully it's better then the end of 09 ;(. What's the status on the f4i anyway?

Awww I'm sorry I definitely want to get up there again and meet up with you guys again this summer! F4i is still in pieces... engine is in the trunk of my car, taking it down to my buddies boss in Greenville, SC this coming weekend, and he's gonna tell me if can fix it or not. Fingers crossed!! Can't wait to be back on the road again and do some more roadtrips