If you build it, they will come. (Oil leak update)

[Depmodeche]

Left Denver and took backroads through Colorado into Kansas. Stayed on backroads all the way through Kansas, stopping at the geographic center of the 48 states (I've already been to the geographic center of North America) and stopping at several little hot dusty Kansas towns.

Got stung by a bee three times in my right leg before I got it out of my pants and got the bike stopped (not really a bee, something like a bee. I forget what they're called, smaller than a bee and with a pointy body, not roundish, but still black and yellow).

Temps didn't go below 100 degrees until after 6:00 sometime. At one point it read 104.4 (as I was moving!) on my digital thermometer that's mounted on my handlebars for several miles; 110 when I was parked.

Spent the night in Lincoln Nebraska. Told myself not to make the typical road trip mistake on my last several days out. Usually, the trip ends two days or so before you actually get home because you start thinking about how nice it would be to stand in your own shower, how much mail you have to open, how you can't wait to drop the film off, how many times you've already been through the neighboring states that you have to ride through to get home, and you start getting anxious. No more stopping at little spots, no more back roads--just get on the interstate and get home already!

So you spend the last day or two hauling a** to get home, and then you get home, and you stand in your own shower, you open all your mail, you drop off the film, and you think, "What was the rush?" Within two hours of getting home life is exactly as you left it before your trip.

So this time I'm taking my time. I took the scenic byway all the way through Iowa today. I stopped at the National Motorcycle Hall of Fame in Anamosa, IA, (worth visiting, I must say, if only to see the only remaining ACTUAL chopper used in the film Easyrider and Steve McQueen's Indian. They have a lot of cool bikes and stuff there as well) and I visited J&P Cycles, who are gearing up for their big bash this weekend.

Gonna spend the night in Savana, IL, hopefully hang out on the banks of the mighty Missisip for a few, and then tomorrow I will take backroads across The Land of Lincoln, bypassing Chicago (probably a good idea to bypass Chicago on a late Friday afternoon, dontcha think?), and then jump on the interstate somewhere in Indiana.

As for the oil leak---well now I know you motor heads are gonna wanna kill me---but back in Sturgis I put in half of jar of oil stop-leak treatment (liquid only, no solids in it). Every dealer I stopped at to see if they could replace my cylnder gaskets told me that they don't have the parts in stock, and that the job takes several days and it would take several days just to get the parts. So, I dumped this stop-leak stuff in and guess what? The oil leak has completley stopped!!! It was probably just some weeping from the base gasket, and as far as I'm concerned that stuff will not hurt the engine one bit. (I know you gear-heads will disagree!)

So the bike is STILL running great, and I have been running her at 70 to 85 MPH through all this heat (560 miles yesterday; about 430 today) and the oil level is still up, nothing has come loose, and today I even got 181.2 miles out of a tank of gas (I forgot to check my trip meter until I was at 125 miles, and that's how long it took after that to find a gas station !) and then it took 4.467 gallons of gas. A personal, albeit unintentional record for me.

Ride safe.

Dep

[bobvc]

Dep,

Great update, I'm impressed with the number of miles you are logging and still able to "see" so much, not just go blowing buy it. Thanks for the insight into this very personal experience!

[Depmodeche]

Thanks, Bob. The secret to my high daily mileages (aside from occasional excessive speed) is that I usually leave around ten in the morning, take my time stopping here and there throughout the day, and get 300 to 400 miles by five, six or seven at night. Not hard to do west of the Mississippi, where you can do 70 or 80 miles and hour for two hours straight. Then, after dinner (or after I've ordered and I'm waiting for my food) I call to a town 150 or so miles away and book a hotel room. Now I can ride until 9:00 at night not the least bit worried about where I'm gonna stop for the night, and I can bang out that last 150 miles in relative comfort. I didn't get to Lincoln last night till after nine and it was still light out. Most riders are off the road by that time at night, but I like riding at night.

Thanks again,

Dep

[2WheelFun]

Roll em...Roll em...Roll em...keep those ponies rollin'...Vul-can! LOL

You go Dep!

I just got a set of baffles from J&P Cycles and shipping was lightning fast!

[Constrictor]

If you read this before you get there, AVOID Interstate 80 from about Joliet, IL all the way to Gary, IN. You can get back on 80 once you get past Interstate 65. There is major construction through there, and traffic can be hell through that area.

[Depmodeche]

Originally Posted by Constrictor

If you read this before you get there, AVOID Interstate 80 from about Joliet, IL all the way to Gary, IN. You can get back on 80 once you get past Interstate 65. There is major construction through there, and traffic can be hell through that area.

Thanks for the tip, but two years of driving a tractor-trailer over-the-road taught me to avoid that area. I took backroads through Illinois and Indiana all the way. I didn't hit the interstate until Ft. Wayne!

Dep