{"id":635,"date":"2015-04-18T21:54:07","date_gmt":"2015-04-19T04:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rubschlager.com\/matt\/?p=635"},"modified":"2015-04-18T21:54:07","modified_gmt":"2015-04-19T04:54:07","slug":"the-open-road-kicked-my-butt-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rubschlager.com\/matt\/the-open-road-kicked-my-butt-today\/","title":{"rendered":"The open road kicked my butt today"},"content":{"rendered":"

I looked back at my post from last month which suggested that I’d be traveling back to Chicago no matter what. \u00a0Those were fun times…<\/p>\n

Where to start? \u00a0Should I start with the numbness? \u00a0How about the ache? \u00a0Or perhaps the light sun burn? \u00a0Oh, I know! \u00a0Maybe I’ll start with Idaho wanting to kill me. \u00a0I’ll need to be good old chronological order, otherwise the it won’t make sense. \u00a0I\u00a0refuse\u00a0to use that lame plot device that some TV shows just fall all over themselves “10 hours earlier…” \u00a0Gag me with a cow pie fly. \u00a0That’s right, I could start there too.<\/p>\n

If you haven’t familiarized yourself with the prior post, you should start there.<\/p>\n

I started today a bit late. \u00a0I was planning on leaving at around 9:00AM, but gazing at our budgerigars never gets old. \u00a0After I forced myself away from them, I completed my packing. \u00a0I didn’t pull away from the house until nearly 11:00AM.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Day<\/a><\/p>\n

Weather was great and I was making good time. \u00a0I’d been on I-84 out through Pendleton, OR, a couple years back and frankly there wasn’t anything new. \u00a0From Pendleton through Ontario, OR, it was all very new and absolutely lovely scenery. \u00a0There were some purple-ish wildflowers in bloom which added color to the landscape.<\/p>\n

After crossing into Idaho, the ride took a sinister turn. \u00a0I was already in the saddle about six hours. \u00a0Anyone who’s ridden will know that’s not a small feat. \u00a0I had my sights set on Burley, ID, though so on I rode. \u00a0I’d been warned about the weather, and that there are signs which advertise “severe wind” along I-84 in Idaho. \u00a0“Can’t be more severe than the Columbia Gorge,” I thought to myself. \u00a0It is. \u00a0At one point while I was filling up my tank I was needing to lean into the wind to stay upright. \u00a0Somewhere after crossing the border I also developed a pain between my shoulder blades. \u00a0Probably from hanging onto the handlebar for dear life, lest I fly away in the wind. \u00a0A number of times my bike was pushed sideways by the wind, which is always “exciting,” but at 80MPH it is downright dangerous. \u00a0Add to that the grove pavement which is I hear is great for water runoff, but riding on this makes the motorcycle feel like it is fishtailing a bit. \u00a0Now combine the fishtailing feeling, leaning into the severe wind, and a dose of a cross gust from the other direction. \u00a0Seriously not cool Idaho. \u00a0I will never ride my motorcycle along that corridor again.<\/p>\n

Upon pulling into Burley I rushed to the motel to see if they had a vacancy. \u00a0I wasn’t entirely sure that I would make it this far so I hadn’t made reservations. \u00a0I should have listened to that thought from days past and stopped sooner. \u00a0After getting to the room and taking off all of my gear I did a quick status check. \u00a0The space between my shoulder blades was screaming in pain. \u00a0My hands are numb like I’ve been using power tools all day. \u00a0The part of \u00a0my face not surrounded by my helmet is sunburnt. \u00a0I also have a red spot in my hairline where my helmet just doesn’t fit quite right.<\/p>\n

So I’m at a decision point. \u00a0Do I push on to Chicago with a revised travel duration which only gives me 2-3 days to be with my family? \u00a0Or, do I head back home at a more leisurely pace and try this again, with Angie, when we have more time? \u00a0The latter feels a bit like giving up, but is it giving up if you’ve set an unrealistic goal?<\/p>\n

Hmm…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I looked back at my post from last month which suggested that I’d be traveling back to Chicago no matter what. \u00a0Those were fun times… Where to start? \u00a0Should I start with the numbness? \u00a0How about the ache? \u00a0Or perhaps the light sun burn? \u00a0Oh, I know! \u00a0Maybe I’ll start with Idaho wanting to kill […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-motorcycle","category-ride-report","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rubschlager.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rubschlager.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rubschlager.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rubschlager.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rubschlager.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=635"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rubschlager.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":710,"href":"https:\/\/rubschlager.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635\/revisions\/710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rubschlager.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rubschlager.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rubschlager.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}