These are a few of the motorcycles and jobs which have come through the repair shop here at MaxMetal Custom Motorcycles.
Click the thumbnails for a larger picture.
Shop Views
1966 Harley FLH clutch repair
2006 Honda VTX 1300 insurance repair
Custom motorcycle replace primary belt
2005 Harley Police Raod King polished aluminum bag inserts
In Alliance we turned north on highway 87 and followed the sign to Carhenge. This site is billed as a “Car Art Reserve” and is actually listed in the Rand-McNally Road Atlas. It is a replica of Stonehenge made with automobiles. http://www.carhenge.com/
Our son’s comment was “It’s just wrong to do that to a Willys.” This was an amusing and interesting stop. You have to wonder if someone just had too much time on their hands. http://www.roadsideamerica.com/set/OVERhenges.html is a link to “Roadside America - Your Online Guide to Offbeat Tourist Attractions. — In case you want somewhere different to go.
Probably my favorite spot on Earth, ever since childhood, is the Sandhills of Nebraska. I love the openness - so free and forever feeling. We rode the length of the Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway from Grand Island to Alliance. http://www.sandhillsjourney.com/ It was definitely not congested! At one point, GT set the bike on the centerline and we rode for mile after mile. Only the sun, the clouds, the grass, and the wildflowers beside the road watched us go by. Plus a few cows and an occasional train. The cars were few and far between.
We rode through remote little towns like Hazard (pop. 66), Merna (pop. 391), Anselmo (pop. 189), and Halsey (pop. 110) which is base for the Nebraska National Forest. (Side note here - the Nebraska National Forest was hand-planted in the prairie. Forests don’t happen there naturally.)
The hills are grass covered sand dunes that once were the home of the American Bison. Now it is cattle country. While the roadway is bordered by barbed wire fences it is considered open range. Cows have the right-of-way.
Nebraska! I always feel like I can breathe deeply again when I get to the wide open prairie. I grew up near a little town along Highway 2 in the middle of Nebraska and that stretch of road feels like home to me still. We came into the state at Nebraska City and followed Highway 2 through Lincoln, where it joins I-80, on to Grand Island, where it takes on its own identy again. The stretch between Grand Island and Alliance is called the Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway. http://www.sandhillsjourney.com/ A great ride that I will write more about tomorrow. Below is a picture of my hometown as we rode in at sunset after our second day on the road.
We started day 2 about 100 miles south of St. Louis. By this time we were seeing motorcycles everywhere. There were bikes being ridden, towed in trailers, strapped in the back of pick-ups, all variations - streaming toward Sturgis like pilgrims flocking to their Mecca.
At a gas station outside Nebraska City we met a motorcyclist from St. Louis. St. Louis is approximately 400 miles from Nebraska City and he talked like he and his group had had a good ride so far. They were hoping to get on to Ogalala, NE before stopping for the night but said the girls with them were complaining about sore butts. GT asked what he was riding and he replied “Over there” with a wave of his arm toward the diesel pumps. “Over there” was a huge motor home. Their bikes were secure inside a large trailer behind it. We wished them a good trip, got on our bike, and rode another 150 miles to our destination west of Grand Island.
On our first two days out, we needed to cover over 1200 miles. I really prefer to travel the backcountry two lane roads but for fast efficient travel you can’t beat the Interstate system. (Check out this site for all you could ever want to know about the interstate highway system which celebrated 50 years in 2006) http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/interstate/homepage.cfm
The temperature was above 100 degrees for a good part of those two days. I’m originally from Nebraska and GT is from Georgia so we’ve traveled from NE to GA many, many times. For a little different route than we usually take, we stayed south of St. Louis and went up the west side of the Mississippi on I-55. That was a pleasant Sunday morning ride. When we got to I-70, we found a different pace. Everyone was in much more of a hurry than we were and they didn’t mind letting us know about it.
Contrast this I-70
with this US 63 to US 36
In Columbia, we turned North on 63, and this is the wide open road we found. We took 63 north and then turned west on 36. Wide open 4 lane road all the way to St. Joseph, MO. We were able to sit back and just ride! I’ll take the road less traveled.
I love to see flags flying. I get teary when I hear “The Star Spangled Banner”. This is a great country we live in. GT and I were blessed to see some of its beauty and meet some of its fine citizens as we traveled from Georgia to Idaho.
Some interesting flag notes we observed as we traveled: the State of Missouri flies the POW/MIA flag along with the US and Missouri flags and the State of Illinois lowers flags to half-mast when an Illinois soldier is killed in action. I appreciate that they are recognizing the sacrifices that keep our country free.
Our first shortcut was to go around Chattanooga on GA109 by cutting the corner of Alabama and joining I24 on the other side. Riding along, I noticed a sign announcing “450 Mile Yard Sale”. I didn’t think much about that until we got into a traffic jam of yard sales on both sides of the road and bargain hunters putting on their brakes suddenly to turn into choice shopping spots. That short-cut added about 1 hour to the trip.
Bikers, beware, the phenomena of extended yard sales is sweeping the country. I saw signs announcing similar events on other great cycling roads - across Kansas on US36 www.ushwy36.com/treasure.htm (Sept 14,15,&16) and across Nebraska on Highway 2 during the last weekend of September. Saddlebags aren’t sufficient for bringing the bargains home. I believe this is one reason GT especially enjoys traveling by motorcycle - no room to carry much in the way of bargains, antiques, or souvenirs.
We got past the yard sales and on toward Tennesse. One thing we have learned along the way is to not get too irritated if things aren’t as smooth as we planned - like the time we got caught behind a bicycle race on the Blue Ridge Parkway or getting in the middle of a 450 mile yard sale. Our motto is “Wherever we are - that’s where we’re at.” Just enjoy the ride!
Loaded up and ready to go, GT checks the map before we start out.
One question we have been asked since getting home was “How did the big gas tank work out?” The answer is “It was great!” We stopped for gas about every 150 miles, but never worried about getting out of range of a fuel stop. At 150 miles, we still had another 100 miles or so of fuel left. The time saved by fewer gas stops allowed us to cover more miles each day.
Here, in the Southeast, the distance between gas stations is never more than a few miles and the need for such a tank is not immediately recognized. The further West we traveled, general appreciation for the tank was expressed in terms of “Awesome! I love that gas tank. How much does it hold?”.
Mathias Schmid, an adventurer who, literally, has ridden his motorcycle around the world, http://www.globalbiking.com or http://www.mathiasschmid.ch/
passed us on I-90 somewhere outside of Missoula, MT. He rode past, slowed down and rode even with us for a while, patted the side of his gas tank, pointed at our tank, gave us a big “thumbs up”, then sped on.
Another rider we met, Ken Morton, was on his way from his home in Washington state to St. Louis for the start of the Iron Butt Rally. 11,000 miles in 11 days. He was impressed with the tank, also. He was carrying an extra fuel cell in the passenger seat of his Gold Wing. http://www.ironbuttrally.com/IBR/2007.cfm
G.T. has been asked if he would custom build tanks such as this. Yes, - just contact him if you are interested.
An excellent adventure! We rode from Toccoa, GA to Sand Point, ID. That was 5,457 miles round trip. G.T. believes that I deserve the “Iron Butt” award for riding that distance on a 9″ wide passenger seat. Actually, the numbness is finally beginning to subside 2 weeks after the ride.
I’ll be showing some of the highlights of our trip over the next few days. For now - this is a picture taken at the mid-point of our trip.
GT and Diane at Sturgis-2007
