Springfield, IL

I left Cincinnati Thursday AM, May 27 for Springfield, the home of friends Ron and Marie with whom I will be traveling until mid-July.  The plan was to hang around at their house, see the sights and go to the Springfield Mile motorcycle races on Saturday night and Sunday before hitting the road for points east.

There was a good chance that I would run into rain and, potentially, thunderstorms.  However, the only rain I encountered was a few short episodes of light to moderage showers once I got into Illinois.  I rode the back roads the whole way, got detoured once because of construction and had a patch of gravel road to contend with, but the ride went very well overall.

In general, the scenery was green but not very interesting - typical midwest farmland.  There were a few very nice sections around the rivers that I crossed, but this segment of my journeys was more about getting there than twisties, sweeping curves and scenic vistas.  Lunch in Franklin, IN and rhubarb pie in Chrisman, IL were unremarkable.  The future, however, will offer many fine rides as well as distractions.

My visit in Springfield has included a couple of lovely excursions on Lake Springfield as Ron and Marie's house is on the lake and they have a really nice pontoon boat with which to motor around.  The houses on the lake and the history of the area are very interesting.  A couple of highlights - a nesting pair of bald eagles and a bridge that used to go over Route 66.  What's interesting about a bridge that used to go over Route 66?  The bridge is now over an inlet as that section of Route 66 is flooded over by the lake!  I also saw a number of "Historic Route 66" signs, but the best Route 66 experience was riding the section that has been maintained as the brick road it all once was.

Other interesting activities included touring the Dana-Thomas house, which was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.  It is a fascinating building which includes, among other things, a candlepin bowling alley in the basement.  The house is well worth visiting on its own merit and because of the history that the well-informed guides convey about it and the times during which Susan Lawrence Dana owned it.  (See:  http://www.dana-thomas.org/)

I was also able to see the Lincoln Presidential Museum, which is a relatively new structure having opened in 2005.  It has some wonderful exhibits and, while a tribute to President Lincoln, it also includes stories of his challenges, failures and detractors.  (See:  http://www.alplm.org/museum/museum.html)  The Lincoln Library and Museum are across the street from a park which contains a statue which recognizes the Springfield Race Riot of 1908 that was the impetus for the founding of the NAACP.  Either I never knew or had forgotten that piece of history associated with Springfield.  (See:  http://www.visit-springfieldillinois.com/Race-Riots/)

The motorcycle races were the excuse to come to Springfield in the first place and were great.  We (Ron and I) started out by helping assembling the "air fence" that protects the riders should they have an accident going into the first and third turns on the oval track.  This consisted of carrying rather heavy, vinyl, BIG air mattess-like sections off a trailer and setting them up for people who came along with portable air blowers (like leaf blowers) to inflate them.  We then put them against the outside wall, secured them together and tied them to the fence behind the wall.  Fortunately they were only needed once, but did the job and all riders walked away.

I had never seen motocycle flat track racing before.  There were two kinds of tracks used - a curving course with a jump and a traditional race oval.  The premier race was on the oval on Sunday afternoon.  The courage of the riders, which some might characterize as lunacy, is amazing as is their skill.  The races were interesting to watch, as was the crowd.  I suspect some would find it boring, but I did not.

Tomorrow (Tuesday, June 1) morning we are off to Mammoth Cave and surrounding area.  I'm looking forward to the ride as well as the cave.  From there it will be points east in the Tennessee/North Carolina mountains.

Thunder Beach Rally

Since I've returned from the Thunder Beach Rally many people have asked, "Well, how was it?"  Also, since I'm now headed out on my next trip, I wanted to put a (much delayed) cap on the first one.

As is true of most things, there's the short, somewhat vague answer and the more detailed, descriptive one.  What follows is sort of a middle ground, I hope.  It's divided into three sections since there were really three different aspects to the trip as far as I am concerned.

Section 1:  My Traveling Companion

I rode on my own from Cincinnati to Murfreesboro, TN where I joined up with my friend Ron.  We first met at college when I was 17 - a long, long time ago.  While we were close friends back then, we have had only intermittent contact in the intervening years.  How we'd get along on a daily basis was an important part of the ride as we are planning to do a lot more riding together over the summer.  This was a good case of expectations affirmed - it was great to spend the time with him and the mutual accommodations required to be riding buddies were minimal and easy to make.  This bodes very well for the longer journeys yet to come.

Section 2:  The Bike

This was the first chance I had to take the BMW on a long trip.  I had ridden it 100+ miles in a day around my neighborhood, as it were, but hadn't really tested how it would be for an extended trip.  Since it was bought with that kind of riding specifically in mind, this was a very important part of the trip for me.

It did wonderfully.  It was smooth, quiet and comfortable.  It was very stable at highway speeds.  On the curves it was terrific; it was nimble and didn't wallow.  To the extent that I tested its performance on wet pavement, it seemed quite sure-footed.    The bike has a suspension adjustment feature with settings of "comfort," "normal" and "sport."  I tried them all, but I guess I either don't have enough experience or sensitivity to notice any significant difference.

The only glitch related to the bike was the tire pressure in the front tire.  It was about 2/3 of what it should have been when I arrived in Murfreesboro for no known reason.  I had to refill the tire a couple of times on the trip, but it seemed as if the leak had more or less resolved itself by the end.  (That turned out not be to true.  The valve stem was the problem, but it was easily and, hopefully, permanently resolved after a trip to my friendly, local motorcycle mechanic.)

Section 3:  The Rally Itself

Seeing as I had never been to a big motorcycle rally before, I was very curious to know what one was really like.  I'd talked to people who'd been to one (or more) and I'd seen pictures and an occasional TV or internet clip, but my suspicion was that there was more to it than that.  The way this one was set up there were a number of venues in Panama City Beach and Panama City itself (including at the Marriott!) where there were vendors and related activities.

The whole area was full of motorcycles moving from one place to another (or nowhere in particular) and parked in great profusion at each.  The vast majority were Harleys of various descriptions.  The next most common motorcycle brand was Honda, with Goldwings and, interestingly, trikes, being the preponderance of them.  We saw only three other BMWs during our entire time there.  The most interesting bikes, however, were the semi-customs and custom bikes.  There was an exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in 1998 called the "The Art of the Motorcycle" and some of the ones that we saw illustrate how such an exhibition could be conceived.  The design of the frames, the shape of the body work and the creativity of the paint all contributed.

The vendors' offerings were, for the most part, pretty uninteresting to me.  There was chrome everywhere and some seemingly unique items, but unless you are particularly into such things their wares were not very compelling.  We did, however, find a vendor selling Bluetooth communication sets and those we bought.  They allow driver to passenger and bike to bike voice activated intercom-like communication.  That proved especially handy on the ride back when a missed turn was made and quickly corrected.  Long, ongoing conversations aren't really viable because speech gets garbled with road/wind noise, but short discussions work just fine.

At one of the venues there was a small motorcycle stunt show.  The riders were three teenaged brothers and the announcer their dad - a real family circus.  Another included a vendor who made goggles integrated into a molded plastic face mask.  It was rare, however, to find something at one of the larger venues that was not replicated in some way at another.

The people were mostly what you might expect.  The majority looked to be middle-class and middle-aged.  Lots were obviously well-fed and decked out in rider regalia with the exception of protective gear and helmets.  We were by far in the minority in that we rode with both.  There was some of the anticipated rowdiness, but not being rowdy sorts and not seeking it out, we probably missed most of it.  Another thing that may have limited the celebratory aspects of the rally was the rain.  We had one good day, but the rest of the time was cloudy, threatening and occasionally pretty rainy.

In retrospect, I think that to get the true flavor of a rally of this kind will require better weather, checking out some of the more tacky events/locations (e.g., "beauty" contests and bars) and keeping much later hours that I'm used to!

The Rest of the Story ... for now

As it turned out, Saturday was the last day spent at the rally.  It was a day without rain, but without much sun as well.

Activities included, unexpectedly for me, a small art show with mostly familiar street art show wares.  Perhaps the most unique were paintings that were made by using fish and crabs rather like wood blocks - they were covered with paint and then printed onto paper.  The resulting images were actually rather interesting.

Down the block from the art show was a car show that had many cars from the '60s and '70s including a disproportionate number of Ford Mustangs.  However, there were a couple of fairly unusual cars as well.  There were three original Mini-Coopers, a Buick Riata and a '47 Oldsmobile.  A few of the more contemporary cars had graphics painted on them that were reminiscent of the kind that are frequently seen on custom motorcycles, but with a lot more space to work with.

After the art and car shows we took a little ride around the area to look at the condos and other residences.  To the west of Panama City Beach there are areas just packed with high-end developments.  The attraction, I'm sure, is the beach as the so-called communities, while upscale, look pretty boring to my eye.  There is clearly some very pricey real estate that is right on the water.

The balance of the day was spent at a few of the other rally venues including one at the Marriott in Panama City itself.  That there was one there was a surprise to me.  It was not all that unlike the others with vendor booths and the like with the difference that there was a live band and many of the booths were inside in a large ballroom.

The original plan was to leave the rally either some time on Sunday afternoon or Monday.  That got significantly modified as a result of looking at all the threatening weather on the route home.  By Saturday there had already been severe weather north of us and more was forecast including a major storm front coming through Panama City Beach on Monday.  The plan was modified to an early exit on Sunday morning with the hope of getting at least to Montgomery, and perhaps beyond, before the weather deteriorated too much.  Monday would either be spent waiting for the weather to pass or riding to Nashville where I could get the now-malfunctioning latch on one of my side cases fixed at the BMW dealer there and we could do a little sightseeing..

Plan B turned to Plan C.  We actually rode all the way to Murfreesboro, TN, a total of 440 miles, with the last 100 or so being in mostly light rain and the trip to Nashville being cancelled because of the weather and flooding there.  Monday it was on to home with only one detour for a washed out road, but no rain.

Trip total = 1,650 miles (roughly 1,550 to/from and 100 while in Florida).  A good time was had by all.