Make no bones about it, I loved my 1999 Yamaha Roadstar. It had been a trouble-free trooper, and a familiar riding companion for the last 18 years. If I could keep it forever, I would.
As with all things mechanical, unfortunately, it was starting to show its age. The throttle grip had come apart during last year's motorcycle trip. The clutch was getting near the end of its life. The rear suspension spring was getting worn. The front forks were in need of service. The front brakes were worn out. It could probably use new throttle cables, as the old ones were getting a little stiff. The windshield was starting to delaminate. Overall, there were lots of dings and scratches from the years and miles I had put on the bike.
These items aren't the sign of a bad motorcycle, rather they're the sign of one that's been loved. You don't wear out these things by leaving the bike in the garage and protecting it from use. A motorcycle gets worn because it brings enough joy to the owner that they want to spend lots of time on the bike.
It's kind of like guitars: the old guitars that look completely worn out and beaten up are the ones that sound the best. They don't sound the best because they're worn out, rather they're worn out because they sound the best. The guitars that were kept in pristine shape in the case generally stayed that way for a reason.
My Yamaha Roadstar still ran like a top, though. I thought about just sinking some money into servicing/fixing some of the issues. I started looking into this possibility and noticed that some of the parts were getting hard to find. Cosmetic parts were almost completely unavailable. Replacement windshields were pretty much impossible to obtain unless you went aftermarket (which I did not want.) Many of the other mechanical items on the list could be found, but were going for a premium price. Some of this may have been the supply-chain bubble that was currently going on.
Nevertheless, at this point in time I couldn't easily get all the parts needed to return the bike to its former glory. Even if I was able to fix all the maintenance items, together they would have added up to a sizable sum which was probably more than the bike was currently worth on the used market.
After a bunch of soul searching, I made the decision that it was time to move on and purchase a replacement motorcycle. The Roadstar had plenty of life left in it for someone looking mostly to cruise around town. It was a tough choice, but I decided it was time to let someone else enjoy it for a while.
I began the process of seeking out a new (to me) motorcycle. Part of me was getting a bit excited about having a new bike for this year's trip. Ok, a lot of me was getting excited.
I had found a 2017 Indian Roadmaster on the used market. The bike had most of what I wanted, the seller seemed to be a good guy and the price was fair. Well, the price was comparably fair to what similar bikes were selling for. The used motorcycle market at this point in time had gone insane. Used motorcycles were selling for 3 to 4 times what they were selling for when I bought my Roadstar. Ugh.
I made up my mind to buy this new (to me) motorcycle. Unfortunately, the day I made the decision also happened to be the day I came down with Covid-19. For more than two years since the pandemic started I had managed to avoid getting Covid. My luck had run out on this day.
The good news is, my contraction of Covid-19 was pretty minor. I had a 102°F fever for about two days, and felt kind of run down. No cough, or loss of smell or taste. After about 48 hours I felt fine again. I was vaccinated, and half of my reading audience is now saying, "See! It didn't do you any good!" and the other half is saying, "See! The vaccination kept it from getting worse!" I'll let you readers fight among yourselves.
After my symptoms subsided, I still needed to avoid people for a few more days. Once I was in the clear to be around others without spreading the plague, I contacted the seller of the Indian (that just sounds wrong) and told him that I wanted to buy the bike. Unfortunately, he informed me that he had sold it the previous day.
Well, that kind of messed me up a bit. I wasn't sure how much I wanted a new bike until after I found out I couldn't buy it. I lamented the situation for a few weeks. Surprisingly enough my wife seemed even more disappointed about it, and she hadn't even seen the bike in person.
I kept my eye out for another Indian Roadmaster for sale. I looked at a bunch of them, but nothing measured up to the one that got away. Eventually the departure date of my trip got close enough that I realized I wasn't going to have a new bike for this year's adventure.
I was confident the Yamaha had at least one more journey in her. I did decide to go ahead and do a few of the maintenance items that were on the list. I replaced the front brakes, and put new grips on the bike. Those were things that I probably would have had to do before selling the motorcycle anyway, so I could justify doing them now.
I did make one "splurge" addition to the Roadstar. To help ease the pain of not getting the Indian Roadmaster, I decided to buy a GPS unit. I had received an Amazon gift card as a bonus at work, which combined with a "fire deal" sale allowed me to pick up a Garmin Zumo XT without having to fork out much cash of my own. I decided that even if I only use it for one trip I could probably sell it and recoup most of the money I had into the Garmin.
I then moved onto route planning. Last year's trip through the Mark Twain National Forest was one of the most enjoyable motorcycle trips I had taken. Some of that was the area, and some of that was the route I had planned, and a lot of it was just me needing to get away for a few days. In any event, I still had a lot of fond memories of the 2021 trip.
I decided there were still a lot of roads to see in that area, so why not go back? I started looking at the map and assembling potential routes.
While planning, one of the things I noted was that the original Route 66 ran through Missouri. Now I've never been overly fascinated by the nostalgia of Route 66 like some people are, but I found that intriguing enough that I started investigating. As it turns out, planning a Route 66 trip even through just one state is tricky. It was involved enough that I made a separate page just talking about creating the Route 66 portion of this trip.
Riding Route 66 across Missouri was only going to take one day. Albeit a long day, but one day nonetheless. I had to come up with a few other interesting destinations.
After a bit of Googling, I found the Ohio River Scenic Byway. It is a highway that follows the Ohio River along the southeastern edge of Illinois. The descriptions I read online looked interesting enough and it was in the right location, so I added it to my trip.
I decided another ride through the Mark Twain National Forest would be in order for the return trip, so I picked some roads that I hadn't ridden last year that looked nice and twisty.
That gave me three days of interesting riding. I tacked on a day on either end to get from Sioux Falls to Missouri to round out the trip. On the way down to Missouri I decided it would be a good opportunity to stop at a few places that had Indian Roadmasters for sale. That would break up the day, and who knows? Maybe I would find my dream bike? I decided that if I did find one I liked, I probably would have to just put some money down to hold it and then make another trip to pick it up later. Trying to swap bikes mid trip may not go so well.
The ride back would just be a quick, direct, dull interstate route. I had to play music that evening, so I wouldn't have any extra time to dawdle. However, by staying in Kansas City, I could meet a friend of mine for supper at the end of day four.
My ride was set. I then went about planning out the route and creating maps for my new GPS. Actually, I wound up creating the maps four or five times. I learned there is a definite learning curve to creating usable maps for a GPS. I did a bunch of test maps and test rides using these maps until I figured out the most reliable way to create them. I put together a page on specific instructions and tips to create maps for a Garmin Zumo XT.
I had one final thing I needed to deal with before I left on my trip. Over the previous decade my left shoulder had been causing more and more problems for me while riding my motorcycle. This year, I started to notice it hurting over the winter, even when I wasn't riding. It didn't hurt anywhere close to the same degree as it did compared to when I was on the motorcycle. However, at certain times it was noticeable when in previous years I wouldn't notice it at all during the off-season.
I took a few purposeful steps towards trying to alleviate this situation. First, starting in February I began lifting weights again. I hadn't lifted in several years. I was hoping that I could strengthen the muscles around my shoulders, and in turn reduce the pain. Even if it didn't help my shoulder pain, I figured going to the gym would be a good thing regardless.
Second, I intentionally decided to ride more motorcycle before I left on the trip. I hoped that by riding more beforehand my body would adapt. In the past few years I had hardly ridden at all before my motorcycle trip, often logging less than 100 miles. This year I rode 371 miles before I left. Not a stellar amount, but three or four times more than what had become "normal."
The final step I took was to start seeing a chiropractor specifically to work on my shoulder. I had never gone to a chiropractor before. I had about eight visits over the month prior to leaving. In addition to making adjustments, he gave me some specific exercises to do, which I did faithfully. He also had me purchase a therapeutic ball I could use to roll out my shoulder, both before I left and during my trip.
I am sad to report that all of these efforts failed to help my shoulder feel better. But we'll get to that later…
Let's talk a little about route planning...
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This page last updated on 11/03/2022