Hacking VT to MO and back

[Boondox]

Barley and I were walking thru a crowd at the MOA Rally this morning when I felt a firm tug on my backpack and a 40 something guy asked, "Whatcha gonna dig with that little shovel?" An elderly man scolded him, telling him he ought not to touch things that didn't belong to him.

I just smiled and told the guy that he had just tugged on Barley's Pooper Scooper! The look on his face was priceless!

There were a lot of people at the rally who had left their dogs behind and pleaded for dog fixes. It reminded me of why I got into hacking in the first place, as they truly are hard to leave behind.

[Boondox]

I had RocketMoto add some Skene P3 lights to the rear of the hack to make Barley more visible from the rear. We ran out of steam about midday, and just waited by the work area. Heat just sort of sucks the energy out of you till there's nothing left to do but sit in the shade and pant



We'll pack up tonight and turn in early. Wakeup call is 3am and we hope to reach Indianapolis tomorrow. From there, we'll look at the forecast and decide which route to take home.

[Boondox]

576 miles today from Warsaw MO to Dayton OH, virtually all of it on I-70, and all but construction zones and an accident east of Indianapolis were scooting right along. We got up at 3am and were on the road by 4am. Crossed the Missouri River in the dark, and the Mississippi at 7:30. Traffic was surprisingly heavy (for a guy from a town with a population of 3k), and this was compounded by left lane hogs who took 10 miles to pass a semi.

There must have been a hundred smart phones stuck out of windows as we motored along, and I'll be pissed if some of those images don't make it onto the Web so I can snag them as mementos of our 2012 adventure! We met more wonderful people at rest stops. Some were folks who needed a dog fix because they missed their pooch so much. A few teary eyed told me how Barley reminded them of a much loved pet who is no more. Three riders wanted to check out the rig to get ideas for bringing their own dogs along.

We made it to our destination, Indianapolis, by noon. We still had some energy, though, so I changed my reservation to Dayton OH. If not for the traffic mess out of Indianapolis we could have done a 700 mile day, but we would have overshot some rural country I've wanted to see. So tomorrow we head east on I-70 another forty miles or so, then leave the slab and check out some secondary roads. We'll end up around Oil City PA, then start fresh the following day on PA 6.

Barley had another rock solid day. All the socializing at the rally had eroded his training a bit, but since leaving he's regained his focus and his behavior today was stellar! We were in a busy rest area in Indiana this afternoon, a really bustling place of cars, nearby slab traffic, overhead aircraft, kids squealing about the cute doggie, and Barley ignored all of them as I put him on a sit-stay and walked 100 yards to the rig for another map. His eyes never left me, but he didn't move an inch till I returned to his side and gave the release. I'm really proud of that little fella!

Too tired to upload more pix.

Oh, and to the two GS riders who helped us maneuver in the bumper-to-bumper traffic at the crash scene this afternoon -- THANK YOU! I was really getting worried that Barley would overheat, and your scouting was much appreciated. On the bright side, after the temps at Sedalia Barley shrugged off today's 85F and direct sunlight.

[Boondox]

A fun but tiring day running the rural backroads thru Amish country in Ohio. It was all a bit much for Barley, who is sacked out compliments of the Best Western. Tomorrow we ride PA Hwy 6 to Wellsboro, then scoot up north a tad to camp at Tioga PA.

[Boondox]

The fields were planted in soybeans


Damn! Can't use the viewfinder with polarized lenses!


Never pass up an opportunity for swim call on a hot day

[Boondox]

Big roomy rest stops rock!


Lots of pretty land NNE between Zanesville OH and Grove City PA


You just passed another rest area, Dad. WTF?

[Melrone]

Peter: It was good to see you guys at the rally.Too bad we didn't hit that 12 year old scotch you brought.And it was no bullshit it was hot..The tire I got worked great and made it home on it..Safe trip Brother when you hit Wisconsin agin the cookout and beer are on me...

[Boondox]

Bert -- Yeah, me too! By the time we were finished with the install Barley was really feeling the heat. I soaked him down at the bike wash station, then suited up and took him to Truman Lake to swim for a bit. We turned in early because we were on the road at 3am Saturday.

We crossed Missouri and part of Illinois in the dark, made good time to Indianapolis, and stopped for the night after a 671 mile sprint on I-70. Next day it was into Ohio; we stopped for the day near Dayton so we could check maps and the weather trying to decide whether to hit WV or to continue NE toward home. In the end the gravitational attraction of home won out.

We left I-70 near Zanesville and enjoyed some rural roads till we ran into Bubba's Road Rage between a couple of small towns. Bubba was doing 35 in a 50 zone with his metal-flake Ranger all fancied up. No problem, I signaled and pulled out to go around. This infuriated Bubba, who floored it and moved over into our lane missing us by less than a foot as I scooted around him. Boy was I pissed! I entertained thoughts of going after him with my camp hatchet, but in the end he had a bigger weapon so I put the anger aside and continued accelerating away from him and his issues.

But it left a bad taste for Ohio, and we didn't stop till we were well into PA. I have some friends with a camp near Wellsboro, so we headed there along some delightful back roads, some of them dirt.




Barley took off the moment I opened the lid for him at the camp; he ran down and consumed two mice. Then he noticed the bird nest that had thwarted him the last time and with a running jump came within a couple inches of sinking his teeth into it! Jeez does that boy love to hunt! So my friends and I sipped beer at the edge of their pond while Barley played in the water, dragonflies caught skeeters, and a couple of raptors soared overhead.

We both slept well, got up at 6, and were on the road by 7. The forecast called for all sorts of nastiness: high winds, torrential rain, and 2 inch hail. I was thinking we'd have to take shelter and might not reach home that day, but in the end it all missed us but some gusty crosswinds on the eastern edge of the Adirondacks.

Our first view of Vermont came as we approached the new Champlain Bridge. On the other side, the temp dropped to 76F. After 102-108 in Sedalia that felt pretty chilly!


I'm always amazed at how green Vermont is! After the drought out West, it was especially delightful to see everything so green and alive! All the streams and rivers were brown with runoff from the torrential rains that missed us. Puddles everywhere! I actually had to mow part of my driveway when I got home!

[Boondox]

My wife was outside with the camera as we drove up the dirt road to our house. This is my favorite shot of the entire trip


And my other dogs were delighted to see us again! Here my two redheads (Rusty and Tullamore) come running to greet me while Kazoo (the big blonde) has already said hello and is racing off to greet Barley, who had been holding his water since Amsterdam NY.


Home safe and sound!

[TouringDave]

Top RR, thanks for taking us along for the ride.

Beautiful dogs too.

[BeeMaa]

Pete,

It was great meeting you and Barley at the rally and that is a sweet rig you have there. I'm gonna have Claude take a look at mine. Maybe fit one of those anti-sway bars you love so much. Gonna have to do something to make the twisties easier on me. I feel like i'm driving a dump truck with no power steering, even with the trail reducer kit.

Glad to hear you made it home safe. Lastly, I wanted to tell you that my Aunt lives in Crown Point, NY right at the intersection of 9N and Bridge Road. You drove right by them. Kinda cool. Anyway, take it easy and enjoy some down time before the next adventure.

Cheers.

[Wolfgang55]

Thanks for the MPG info & the credited circumstances.

We enjoyed your RR very much.

[Boondox]

Originally Posted by Wolfgang55

Thanks for the MPG info & the credited circumstances.

We enjoyed your RR very much.

I continued monitoring it coming home. Got 27.5mpg at 75-80 on a 571 mile stretch of slab with no headwind. Got 38.2mpg at 50-55 on a 300 mile stretch of rural highway that was mostly flat with only occasional rolling hills. I never again experienced the low 20s that I did against that stiff headwind heading west, though a crosswind dropped me to 25mpg at 75 on a hilly slab.

It would seem that in wind a sidecar has the aerodynamic characteristics of an open parachute...

[Boondox]

Originally Posted by BeeMaa

Pete,

It was great meeting you and Barley at the rally

Eric -- It was nice meeting you and your lovely wife! Funny about your aunt; I ride that way a couple times a month, usually on two wheels.

The trail reducer made my rig only slightly easier to steer, but on long trips every little bit helps. The swaybar helped tremendously on spirited curves, though it's still a workout requiring a LOT of body English!

BTW -- Rusty (one of my red field goldens) is showing a lot of interest in becoming my backup sidecar adventure dog!

[BeeMaa]

Just to compare notes on MPG.
Running 70mph on the slab and through the hills of PA got me 29mpg.
60mph in the flatlands of Illinois and Indiana got me 34mpg.
70mph in the same flatlands gave me 32mpg.
I thrashed it on the last leg to the house running 75-85mph and still got 27mpg.
Gotta go that fast around here or you'll get run over.
Cheers.