LaMonster
07-28-2006, 07:01 AM
You just never know how a trip like this is going to go. ::)
I've been so pumped for this trip that I really haven't had much sleep since Thursday getting ready for this trip. I've had a ton of stuff that I needed to get done before we left and I did pretty good on knocking those things down.
I got the trailer loaded with three bikes and a Bushtec trailer and I took my time and made sure that I got everything secured so that I wasn't going to have any issues with bike comming loose on the trip. We decided to leave Greeneville TN at 4am on Wednesday and when I plugged it into the GPS it said I would be in Prescott AZ by 8:30 am Thursday. That gave us plenty of time to take it easy out there. We needed to do a little work on the bikes Friday and we were heading out Saturday.
The trailer we had was new but they come with used tires and they didn't look too bad but my buddy Ron went ahead and put some slime in all the tires just in case we picked up a nail or something on the way. At our first fuel stop we checked the tires and sure enough we had one that was low. We put some air in it and checked it at the next fuel stop and it was still leaking. We found a plug in the sidewall that was still leaking so I put a new plug in it and started looking for a place to buy a new tire.
We didn't get too far down the road before the tire blew. I took the next off ramp and used the GPS to find a place to buy a new tire. After looking at the rest of the tires and thinking about how hot it was going to be and how many miles I had o travel we decided to go ahead and replace all the tires and get a spare. This put us way behind but we still had plenty of time to make it. We got four new tires and a spare and took off again. While we were getting fuel we got to looking at the spare and it didn't look like the offset on the rim was right. Sure enough it wasn't right so we went back to the tire place and to see if they could find us another rim. The guy said he thought he had one at the house so we waited for him to run out and back to check. Turns out it was wrong too so now we've killed about 3 hours and we have no spare. I guess we were still better off than where we started but it would have been nice if we had a spare too.
So now all the lack of sleep decides to hit me and I start to go on the nod everytime I try and drive. Ron had about an hour of sleep the night before but he was still in better shape than I was and he drove most of the way. When he would drive I couldn't sleep and when I would drive I couldn't stay awake.
We had a couple of close calls on I-40 and they are doing a lot of work on that road. We got detoured a few times and seems like we were stuck in traffic forever. It was very hot and we weren't moving. I watch the GPS time keep moving up. Bottom line after all was said and done we didn't get to Prescott till 9pm and that's when I remembered that I forgot a part for my GPS that I need for the trip. Guess I'll be making one of those today. I hope the rest of the trip goes better. I'll try and keep you guys posted on the trip and I will post this on all the boards.
http://bigbikeriders.com/photopost/data/4970/1CIMG0937.JPG
I've been so pumped for this trip that I really haven't had much sleep since Thursday getting ready for this trip. I've had a ton of stuff that I needed to get done before we left and I did pretty good on knocking those things down.
I got the trailer loaded with three bikes and a Bushtec trailer and I took my time and made sure that I got everything secured so that I wasn't going to have any issues with bike comming loose on the trip. We decided to leave Greeneville TN at 4am on Wednesday and when I plugged it into the GPS it said I would be in Prescott AZ by 8:30 am Thursday. That gave us plenty of time to take it easy out there. We needed to do a little work on the bikes Friday and we were heading out Saturday.
The trailer we had was new but they come with used tires and they didn't look too bad but my buddy Ron went ahead and put some slime in all the tires just in case we picked up a nail or something on the way. At our first fuel stop we checked the tires and sure enough we had one that was low. We put some air in it and checked it at the next fuel stop and it was still leaking. We found a plug in the sidewall that was still leaking so I put a new plug in it and started looking for a place to buy a new tire.
We didn't get too far down the road before the tire blew. I took the next off ramp and used the GPS to find a place to buy a new tire. After looking at the rest of the tires and thinking about how hot it was going to be and how many miles I had o travel we decided to go ahead and replace all the tires and get a spare. This put us way behind but we still had plenty of time to make it. We got four new tires and a spare and took off again. While we were getting fuel we got to looking at the spare and it didn't look like the offset on the rim was right. Sure enough it wasn't right so we went back to the tire place and to see if they could find us another rim. The guy said he thought he had one at the house so we waited for him to run out and back to check. Turns out it was wrong too so now we've killed about 3 hours and we have no spare. I guess we were still better off than where we started but it would have been nice if we had a spare too.
So now all the lack of sleep decides to hit me and I start to go on the nod everytime I try and drive. Ron had about an hour of sleep the night before but he was still in better shape than I was and he drove most of the way. When he would drive I couldn't sleep and when I would drive I couldn't stay awake.
We had a couple of close calls on I-40 and they are doing a lot of work on that road. We got detoured a few times and seems like we were stuck in traffic forever. It was very hot and we weren't moving. I watch the GPS time keep moving up. Bottom line after all was said and done we didn't get to Prescott till 9pm and that's when I remembered that I forgot a part for my GPS that I need for the trip. Guess I'll be making one of those today. I hope the rest of the trip goes better. I'll try and keep you guys posted on the trip and I will post this on all the boards.
http://bigbikeriders.com/photopost/data/4970/1CIMG0937.JPG