Today: 60 miles
Total: 2284 miles
Maybe it was the time change or maybe just my excitement but
I was wide awake at 4:30 AM. Plenty of
time to read, and to begin thinking about the trip home. Kelley and I have decided to move and this
will be the month so I have lots more reasons to be excited about getting home
quickly than about seeing more of the country – that will still be there the
next time I plan a long ride.
Click here to join me on my trip from the Fawndale Lodge
into town. You’ll notice that I was a
bit early there too. Must not have been
the time change.
Russell Cycles is nothing like I thought it would be. I was picturing a big building with lots of
employees. Come to find out it is a
simple upholstery shop where the people couldn’t be any nicer. First I filled out the paperwork and chose
the details. I went with the half moon
pattern, a black leather insert with vinyl sides, the heavy duty spring
package, and, of course, the electric seat warmer. (It’s not like I plan to regularly use the
seat warmer but I remember as clear as a bell freezing on the Alaska Highway
and wishing my seat had one…next time, it will...)
I met Mike, my seatbuilder.
Great guy who loves his work and promised to do a great job for me. Mike put a loaner seat on my bike so I had
wheels. Then I was off to my morning.
First stop was the Redding Harley Davidson dealer for an oil
change. Harley dealerships always take
care of people out in trips first – but knowing that it doesn’t always work
that way, I was there before they opened at 9:00 AM with my bike first in line
for service. I had 5000 miles on my
oil. I could have ridden home without
hurting anything but I would have thought about it the whole time.
An “oil change” on a bike like mine is a bit complicated as
it means changing the engine oil, the primary oil, and the transmission
oil. It takes about an hour and costs
about 5 times what an oil change in my Expedition does. You gotta pay the fiddler. But I got to spend that hour talking bikes and
life with another customer so the time flew by.
I still had a little time left before the midday “sit test”
and I remembered an old timey sign for a barbershop just up the road from
Russell Cycles. So I headed over there,
considering getting a haircut. Next
thing I know I’m in Sal’s Barbershop and he’s taking a clipper to my head. I should have known something was up since
his price list included flat tops for $10.
I got the next best thing.
That done, it was time for my sit test. It felt great and I was getting more and more
excited. I rode into Redding for lunch
at the Black Bear Diner. Great
choice. Then back to the Lodge for an
afternoon by the pool. This time Gloria,
Rocky’s mom, joined us.
At 4:00 PM I was back at Russell Cycles. I asked Mike to take some “before” and
“after” pictures. The first picture is
on a stock seat – look at the angle of my knee and how high I sit. The second picture is on the new seat. I sit higher and further back, with more
legroom than I have ever had on a bike.
I loved the new seat immediately.
When I rode back to the Fawndale Lodge I gave thought to
just passing the exit and heading north.
But I have plenty of time to ride so I just headed back to the room.
As I said, my plans have changed. I’m going to hurry home and love every minute
of it. South on I-5, cut over on 58 to
Bakersfield and down to Barstow, and then I-40 east. I’m hoping that staying a bit north will be a
bit cooler than going all the way down to I-10.
It makes for a longer trip but not by all that much.
Besides, there are pieces of I-40 that I haven’t ridden yet
so there is always the allure of untested waters.
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