Small group to Brown Co, IN

BDazzler

BDazzler

Wizard
Visit site
I got invited to ride with a small group from Charleston, IL to Brown County IN. We just made it to Nashville, IN. There are 5 bikes counting my FZ1. Everyone but me has their wife on back, I'm solo and my wife has the kids at Cave In Rock. I wish I could have done both. Oh well. My wife would have tagged along on her Ninja 250, but she's not comfortable with interstate travel or group rides.

Anyway, there is a Yamaha Raider (silver, I think it's a 2012). This guy had a blue '09 FZ1, but his wife didn't like the back seat. I think he still misses his FZ1 by the way he looks at mine. :) There is a 1st gen VMax, a Honda cruiser of some sort, I don't know what kind, and some sort of HD (I have no clue when it comes to HDs.

We made a stop along the way in Terre Haute, IN for breakfast at IHOP. Then we stopped for gas and once at the Bloomington, IN HD shop. The guy on the HD bought a chrome cup holder.

Here's a few quick pics. We are going to have lunch in a few minutes and then head home. I'll post a bit more when I get to my computer.

View attachment 11483
View attachment 11484
View attachment 11485


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Ok, here's a better (or at least longer update. I met up with the group in Greenup, IL (where I live). We hopped on I-70 to Terre Haute, IN and then took route 46 to Bloomington, IN and on to Nashville, IN. We stopped to allow the couples (everyone but me) to shop for an hour and then had some lunch. We got back on track onto hwy 135 running through Brown County State Park. We all stopped for a short break in Story, IN at the Story INN. I had 2 Beck's beers :icon_beer: (Non-Alcoholic... I just don't drink at all when I ride, but they tasted pretty good) I wish I had my GoPro, but I don't yet. That road is beautiful. Not super twisty, but way more than anything I've seen in central IL. This was my second time on this road. My wife and I went last year in September for our anniversary. She didn't feel up to the 'all in one day' thing or interstate travel, or she would have gone too on her Ninja 250r again.


Bayouscoot said:
With all those cruisers in your group...did you get to have any fun on on Hwy 135? :)
Click to expand...

I did have a bit of fun. I was surprised how quick the Vmax, Raider and HD could take some of those corners 2 up. I just held back on the straights and then caught up in the corners. The Honda VTX 1800 had been lowered and consistently got left way behind (I think his wife was freaking out a bit on the back too). I was able to push it harder this time than last year with my wife on her Ninja 250r. The cruisers were scraping pegs, but it was still a fun enough pace. Not knowing the roads and being worried about sand and gravel at every turn, I wouldn't have wanted to push it too much harder anyway. (I wish I had the Penske suspension!) :doh2:

After 135 (by far the best road on the trip) we were going to cut across on 58, but it was closed for construction, so we had to get detoured south to 50 west instead. Then we took 446 back to Bloomington, IN and 46 back to Terre Haute, IN. It was just getting dark when we hit Terre Haute and we hopped back on I-70 for the 50 miles of straight, boaring, flat road home. Since I was the only one with a helmet (full face, anyway... one of the wives had an open face with pull down shield), the bugs didn't hurt me.

I thank God for the great ride. Decent weather (no rain, but a bit hot at times), no one had an off or injury and my windshield held up fine with the 4 top screws. We all got along very well. I'm glad I got to go.

Gary, I thought of you and the Linton, IN BMW shop each time I crossed 59 on 46. We may have to organize a ride to Brown county ourselves. I'd have loved to invite you too, but it wasn't my ride to invite people.

I'll upload a few more pictures from my phone later. The total on the trip for me was around 333 miles. My hip and knees were uncomfortable for the last 50-80 miles. I did get my oil changed before the trip (Mobil 1 4T racing) and WalMart SuperTech filter. I had cleaned and lubed my chain a few weeks before. I was happy to have the stock bars this time (I bought it used with non-stock bars and I never liked them). Since there was a 30% chance of rain all day (never saw a drop), I decided to change from my Zero Gravity Double Bubble to my ZG Sport Touring the night before. I guess Hercules possessed me for a brief moment, and I twisted off the heads of 2 of the vinyl screws for the windshield. Since I did this very late Saturday night and left early Sunday morning, I only had my shield on with the 2 top and middle screws. I resolved that today. I looked at 3 hardware stores and 2 autoparts stores, and 1 independent used cycle shop, but no luck on the screws, so I went to the Yamaha dealship and paid $1.71 apiece for 2 more screws. There IS a stupid tax, and I just paid it... :rant:

My wife and I will take another trip together in Sept for our anniversary this year. We may go back to Brown County IN, or we might head up toward Galena, IL. I've heard there is some good riding around there too.
 
Here are a few more pics from the trip.
This is my friend, Bob's Raider. He traded his Cobalt Blue '09 FZ1 for it. *sadness*. Still a very nice bike for a cruiser.
View attachment 11501

Here are a couple of the first gen V-Max that was with us. He has a self made extra butt pad for his wife.
View attachment 11502
View attachment 11503

This is the Harley that was on the trip. I know nothing about HD's, so you guys will have to figure out what it is. The guy with the leather head gear owns the HD and the other guy owns the V-Max. I apologize as I have forgotten their names.
View attachment 11504

This was a nice stop in Story, IN. I had the non-alcoholic beer, but it was still tasty.
View attachment 11505
View attachment 11506
View attachment 11507
View attachment 11508

I didn't get a good picture of the Honda VTX 1800. It had been lowered and would drag pegs at a very slight lean. We would wait for him to catch up.

Great trip for me. I hope to do it again this year, but I doubt it will be with the same group just because I don't think they will get to go again. Anyone want to join up along the way? Let me know if you are in the area. I hope to have a GoPro by next year and upgraded suspension.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
BDazzler-

Something for ya to think about...

Take a look at Hwy 135 (Nashville Area) follow that down to Hwy 62 in Corydon, IN. From there you can go west to route your ride back home.

It's a fun ride and plenty of places to check out down there for some rest from the bikes.

PM if ya want more info
 
Bayouscoot said:
BDazzler-

Something for ya to think about...

Take a look at Hwy 135 (Nashville Area) follow that down to Hwy 62 in Corydon, IN. From there you can go west to route your ride back home.

It's a fun ride and plenty of places to check out down there for some rest from the bikes.

PM if ya want more info
Click to expand...

I looked on the map and Hwy 62 looks great. I will have to check that out, but that would be more than a day trip. We took some breaks and didn't ride too fast, but it still took us 13-14 hours to do the trip I described. I hate that I have to drive so far to get to any thing other than flat, straight IL roads.

Thanks for the tip. I will do my best to get down to that area this year or next. I'm asking Santa for a GoPro and Penske suspension. I'll have to see how hard that makes him laugh.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top