Adventures By Guy

The sun was supposed to come out and it did… but we’ll get to that.
Out early and heading back to near Lancaster, PA. distance of only 205 miles. Doesn’t seem like much but we didn’t take the path most traveled to get to where we were and in 4 days we traveled a little over 900 miles. Rural PA is quite beautiful and…RURAL! October seems to be a perfect time to be touring it as we didn’t see another bike, or ATV on these back trails and roads. Mike lead us on a merry ride home winding along streams and then up and over “mountains” (compared to the western mountains I had to put quotes there) and the roads were all good pavement and thoroughly enjoyable. As we got closer to his house we got into Amish Country and saw them harvesting corn with mule drawn equipment and another farmer in a harvested corn field mowing the short stalks down with a team of horses and some machine. It’s on the GoPro and I’ll get this trip posted up on my You Tube channel “Adventures by Guy”. When we got about 25 miles from Mikes house the sun came out and it was a beautiful day. We were back by noon, I got busy unpacking the bikes and getting the Super Tenere up on the trailer and strapped down ready for the long drive home tomorrow. We all went out for a good dinner and relaxed later watching an action movie then to bed.
Next morning, we were out by 6 am and I headed for my 1st stop an hour away. It was a bit out of our way, but I picked up a customized gas tank for the Super Tenere. It holds 2 gallons more than a stock tank. So, 8.2 gallons total, which if I drive around 60 mph will give me at least a 300 mile range or more. After that we made the 11 mile trip to Gettysburg and had a quick look and picked up some pamphlets for another trip. Then we pointed for home… kind of… We stopped by “The Iron Pony” in Columbus, Ohio. The Iron Pony is a very,VERY large dealership of many brands of bikes. They also have a huge inventory of gear and other accessories. I just wanted a low profile oil drain pan. I saw them there last year and had them in my hand then but put them back. They didn’t have any in stock now. Next time…!!!!! I did buy a new helmet as mine is 8 yrs old and about 2 yrs past due. I wasn’t going to as it is nearing the end of the season… but I saw how much inflation had hit the helmet industry and I decided to buy one in self-defense as the exact helmet had gone up $140 since last fall! Who knows what it would be in the spring. Then Jared badgered me into buying a new helmet communication system… as he was buying one and it was a Cardo Packtalk Edge. The latest and greatest. Mike had one and now Jared. It is better in every way than my 8+ yr old SENA 20S. I commented on the trail that I needed a new helmet and I should probably get a new comms unit too. The 20S doesn’t have great range anymore and crackles a lot if we get more than a 3rd of a mile apart then just goes away. I didn’t need much convincing. Especially being the only one in my usual riding group without one. The price shock was significant along with the new helmet… but I did it as Jared was encouraging me the whole time. If he hadn’t been there and gotten one, I would have passed… I will have the new system for at least 10 yrs and it is such a leap in technology. After Columbus the sky to the west became dark and once again it rained on us most of the way home. It rained on us every day this trip but we had fun and the rain made the trail interesting and dust free so it was all good. We each agreed that it was a quick but fun outing. Already planning for the next one… Meanwhile Jared started looking at adventure bikes for sale on the Net while I was driving home. (Idle hands are the devil’s workshop!)
Until Next Time,
Guy
P.S. I learned about soft luggage this trip. Mike has been telling me that it is the way to go when adventuring off pavement… and I am starting to believe him. If Jared had tipped over with hard bags they could have really been messed up but the Nelson Rigg soft bags were no worse off than before the tip over. The Mosko Bags were a very nice system too. I will be doing some research on them. Another surprise as I have been resisting the move to soft bags.