[ST] overdue ride report part 4/ss 5000

["triumph1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <triumph1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

A few things should be mentioned before I move on to the las leg of the 
ss5000.  I did not know what to expect on the 50cc and all previous 
rides were in the 1000 to 1500 mile range in 24hrs, which are totally 
different types of rides.  I kind of went with the experience I have 
with those type rides and figured I wing it.  When I do another 50cc or 
100cc I will now know what to plan for and how to arrange and manage my 
time.  I would never do what I did on this trip again because of the 
safety factor which was obviously overridden literally and I generally 
don't like to endanger myself or those around me.  I have never suffered 
from dehydration like that and combined with the lake of sleep and 
nutrition I can tell everyone it is a very dangerous combination and one 
I didn't even recognize until I was past the point of reasonable 
thinking.  That said , I left San Diego with the intention of stopping a 
lot and visiting a few people from this list and others that I hadn't 
had the pleasure of meeting.  I was going to ride leisurely through 
Northern Arizona, New Mexico and then head, on a route unknown, down to 
Dallas, stay a day and head back north to Illinois through Arkansas. 
That was the plan man.
So I felt pretty good having a few hours of sleep in a real bed, stopped 
off right away and had breakfast.  Looked the bike over and discovered 
my chain had about 2two inches of slack in it and it is Sunday, crap. 
This starts the chain flying off the bike paranoia and now all I can 
think about is the friggin chain and how many miles I have to go before 
I find a dealer that is open on Monday.  Tools, what tools, I forgot 
tools in Illinois so on the road I went.  I loved Northern Arizona and 
sometime during the late afternoon I finally pulled of to see if I could 
find a garage that had the tools to adjust the chain.  I finally found 
one in some very small town in Arizona, don't remember the name. I 
pulled the rear tire out to the end of the adjusters and still had 
waaaaay to much slack, but I felt better knowing I finally did something 
about it.  I thanked the guy with the tools and offered him 
compensation, but he refused it.  I had a snack from a gas station, red 
bulls again and bought plenty of water for the tank bag, gassed up and 
went down the road.  Then it hit me, the Grand Canyon is in Arizona, I 
am 43 years old and always wanted to see it.  So I stopped called home 
and had my better half look it up on the map and give me directions.
It was late afternoon by now and I figured I could make the canyon 
before sunset and watch the sun set at the Grand Canyon, cooool.  I 
figured I could pitch a tent there and get up in the morning and head 
for Albuquerque.  Williams AZ and highway 64 to the canyon is about 
50-60 miles each way and it is starting to get cooler which makes me 
feel better.  I stopped along h-64 to pee and decided to get my GPS out 
that I forgot about and had no idea how to use and see if I could make 
it work.  Turned it on and set it on my tank bag, drank some water and 
enjoyed the quiet, cool evening wondering want the canyon really looked 
like in person.  Took off and felt something hi my left arm, looked in 
the mirror and saw, yes, the GPS bouncing down the rod behind me. God 
Dammit, fast turn around and zipped back to the spot where it stopped 
bouncing and started walking towards it.  Then what seemed like slow 
motion was an over sized Cadillac coming over the rise at a high rate of 
speed and heading directly for my GPS.  I start running and pointing and 
am yelling NNNOOOOOO, all in slow motion, and I swear to this day the 
old woman in the caddy smiled at me as she ran the GPS over. Crack and 
hundreds of little pieces tumbled down the road behind the caddy-lac. 
This of course started a fit of tourettes that lasted for quite awhile 
even after I was back on the bike.  Now it was pretty chilly out and I 
needed to get moving if I was to arrive at the Grand Canyon to get a 
camping spot and see the sunset.  The road was empty for the most part 
and very straight so I did a few miles of triple digit riding and 
arrived at the canyon in plenty of time.  I asked if there was camping 
and the overly polite cashier said sure is and then tried to give me a 
history lesson about the canyon and I blew him off.  I rode right up to 
the edge of the canyon and was absolutely amazed.  Speechless, parked 
the bike and walked to the edge and just stood there and looked for an 
hour, amazed at what I saw.  The sunset was magnificent and this is the 
only picture I had taken the whole trip, me at the edge of the Grand 
Canyon at sunset.  Turns out this was a very good thing.  I go to the 
camping area and find it is full and had to ride back to Williams to 
find a room for the night.  It is cold now and dark.  Not a problem.  I 
put on my heated pants, sweater and gloves.  GLOVES, where the hell are 
my friggin gloves?  Oh, ya I left them on the sleeping bag roll when I 
was messing with the GPS, GONE.  So I lost my GPS and leather gloves. 
Rode back in the dark looking at all of the danger elk signs for the 
next 50 miles.  Got into Williams and found a very cheap motel and 
showered for the fist time on my trip.  Got into the king sized bed and 
had the best nights sleep I can remember.
5:00am up and back on the road.  Wait, I can make the ss5000.  I have 
until Tuesday morning and I think to Dallas would do it, but not sure 
because I didn't have maps or a GPS anymore.  I was on my way to 
Albuquerque to see Dan Wallander from this list and another guy from a 
ducati list.  The plan was to meet Dan and then stay with the other 
person for the night and go on to Dallas to meet the infamous DUNCAN.  I 
rode through the rest of Arizona at a good clip and made it into New 
Mexico and on to Albuquerque.  Met Dan at the local Triumph shop and PJ 
the owner.  Bought a new pair of gloves and didn't really ask about a 
chain because I thought I could make it to Dallas.  So I call the other 
guy at work and tell him my grand change of plans say by to Dan and get 
gas before I leave town.

part five, final part coming

TimE
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