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Day 2 – The Downs & Ups

It’s only our second day in and we’ve all experienced our share of problems already. Marco keeps having some bike troubles, Gomes’ cargo net clips bent and broke due to the heat, and I . . . Well picture this.

It was about an hour into the ride, Marco and Gomes are in front of me. We hit a stretch and I open the throttle, making my bike roar. I speed up and pass Gomes and then Marco. I must’ve been doing about 80-85mph as I passed them. Gomes catches up to me and starts giving me hand signals that I interpret as pull over. It just so happened that we were nearing a weigh station so we pull into the weigh station and Gomes tells me something black and flat flew off my bike. At first I thought it was the SOG shovel that was not strapped but just tucked into the bags, but when I looked it was still there. I start thinking of flat black items I have that may have flown off. Nothing was coming to mind. Marco suggests I just look through my belongings regardless of the descriptions and so I begin a sort of checklist. Bookbag, check, towel, check, small gym bag, check, fold-up blanket, check . . . and then it hits me. My brand new bike cover and tarp are missing. Seems my strapping skills this morning were not on point. At about 80-85mph on I70 heading westbound, as I pass Gomes, my cover and tarp both fly off my bike.

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If it wasn’t for Gomes’ hawk eyes we wouldn’t even have known until stopping tonight and unloading our bikes. I also had a very uncomfortable riding day. It was like no matter what I did I couldn’t get comfortable. At one point my helmet was bothering me so much as well as my butt hurting on the seat that I forced a pullover at a gas station because I needed to get off the bike, my helmet off my head and take a walk and stretch.

The rest of the day continued that way with me trying different things every timed we stopped. Finally, I think during the last of today’s legs, I found a decently comfortable position. Tomorrow I’ll try something else. Everyday that goes by we try to get more and more compact with our packing.

Since Marco had some bike troubles and I had lost my bike cover and tarp we figured a stop at a Lowe’s or Home Depot would be in order. Lowe’s was what we found first. We stopped at a Lowe’s just into Indiana, right outside of Richmond. Marco runs inside to get what he needed and then we head across the street to a Bob Evans for some lunch. As we walk out with our stomachs full and clear minded I realize that I had forgotten to purchase new tarps. Back to Lowe’s we go. As we get to Lowe’s I park my bike and quickly get off to head inside when a gentleman approaches Gomes and introduces himself. “Hi, my name is Frank” was all I heard as I dashed into Lowe’s. We didn’t want to waste more time. I get my tarps, come back outside and there is Frank and his wife Mary still talking to Gomes and Marco. My CX500 had caught Frank’s eye. His wife had a CX500 custom at one point and now their son had one.


We chatted for a bit with these wonderful folks who even offered to feed us and take us in as well as give us their number in case we had any bike troubles. Really good people. I hope we meet more like them along this journey. We had some miles to do so we set back out on the road. We pull into our next pit stop for gas and the three of us had all been thinking the same thing. “Why didn’t we interview and shoot them for our doc!?” A little bummed out with not having gotten what could have been great footage we get back on the road and start thinking of our next place to sleep.

We finally get to Casey, Illinois and although we tried to get some work done, we were just too tired.

Published in 6 On Asphalt