A Motorcycle trip, a Funeral, and a Tractor…Long Post

I’ve been busy since my last post. This one will cover several topics, so just keep reading!

I am a member of the XS 11 Owner’s Association, a web-based motorcycle club. Every year the club holds rallies so people can meet and ride together. In the past I had gone to western rallies, but not to eastern ones. The XS 11 East rally was set for May 26th and 27th in Cambridge, Ohio, and I had decided  to attend.

Taking Pam’s advice, I left from work on Tuesday the 22nd and spent the night in Limon, Colorado, near the Kansas border. The next day’s ride across Kansas was very windy, but I made it and a good way into Missouri before stopping for the night. The wind was so strong it caused the only real problem I had: my trailer popped open! The wind pressure had caused a clamp to fail. A strap around the end of the trailer, bumble-bee style, took care of keeping the trailer closed.

I ran into lots of road construction in all the states. Still, I made good time and arrived in Cambridge on Thursday the 24th. This was by plan, as I like to have a day to cover any eventualities  that might arise. Several other attendees were already there, so we made plans to ride together on Friday.

We decided to visit the American Motorcycle Association’s Hall of Fame Museum. If you are into motorcycles, this is a good place to visit. I am restraining myself from posting a lot of photos, not only because they may not appeal to all who read this blog, but this post is going to be long enough as it is!

Visting the AMA Museum

1930 Triumph

From the museum we went to the Long Horn Ranch, where 3 varieties of longhorn cattle are raised as breeding stock. Suffice to say I learned a great deal about these large and iconic animals.

Longhorns in Ohio

If you are interested in souvenirs, you can buy a skull and horns (or just horns) at the ranch shop:

Longhorn Horns...priced by the inch

From the ranch it was back to the motel for dinner and conversation, as well as some adult beverages.

The Saturday club ride was great, winding around Ohio back roads and eating at a buffet for lunch.  Dinner was at a good local restaurant. The outing covered 192 miles in almost perfect weather. (It was a little warm.) Here is a photo of our group at the motel:

XS 11 East Group Photo

I could not attend the Sunday ride, as I needed to be in Chicago on Sunday to visit family. Monday I would ride into central Wisconsin to visit and stay with my mother, and Tuesday I would attend the internment of my father-in-laws’ ashes.

Riding through big cities is not my idea of fun, and Chicago reminded me again of why I live and work in a rural area. To many people moving to fast, and toll roads do not add to the ambiance.

Sunday evening, after I arrived in Chicago, my niece and nephew cooked a great dinner of grilled steak, sautéd  mushrooms, fresh green beans, and rice.  Cooktop brownies and ice cream made for desert. Everything was great, and my thanks to my sister Carole and niece and nephew Stef and Eric for the great reception and dinner.

Monday I headed out and made it to central Wisconsin. I took my time and stopped at a Culver’s restaraunt for lunch. Culver’s is a mid-west based chain of restaraunts that is well-known for using local beef in its hamburger meals and local milk in ice cream and milkshakes. It had been a while since I ate at a Cuver’s, so I just had to stop!  

After unpacking at my mother’s house, my two sisters and I visited my father’s grave site. (Dad passed away in December of 2010.) We returned to Mom’s place for dinner and conversation, then it was time for a night’s rest.

Tuesday turned out to be very windy and cold. This only a day after record-setting warm temperatures in Chicago and elsewhere. None-the-less, I headed for Merrill, which is about 15 miles north of Wausau, Wisconsin. My father-in-law, Myron Paroubek, had died in February and had been cremated, and the ceremony was to inter his ashes.  Myron’s home town was Merrill, and many of Pam’s relatives are buried there.

Better photos have been posted on other family blogs and FaceBook, so I’ll just include this one photos of Pam’s siblings, Larry, Becky, and Craig.

Larry, Becky, and Craig at Myron's internment.

Now for the last part of my trip: Back to Colorado with Dad’s old Ford 8N tractor.

First, I left the cemetery and went to Marshfield to pick up my U-Haul truck and trailer. I loaded the motorcycle in the truck, ( I rode it up the ramp, a first for me.) and tied it down, then headed back to my mother’s place.

Now I had to load the tractor, which had not run in years, had flat and low tires, and had sunk a bit into the dirt.

Ford tractor sitting in the grass

I had brought my come-along (hand-powered portable winch) to help load the tractor onto the U-Haul trailer. This is slow work, requiring the come-along to be reset every 4 feet or so. You should have seem me ratcheting that come-along’s handle back and forth! Eventually the tractor was up on the main part of the trailer and things got a little easier.

Loading tractor

After putting my motorcycle trailer on behind the tractor, the final rig looked like this:

I headed back to Colorado on Wednesday morning. After a night’s stay in Nebraska, I arrived home late Thursday afternoon.

Mileages worked out like this: 2,791 miles by motorcycle, 1,301 miles by truck, noted when I returned the rig. Total: 4,092 miles.

It was a long and varied trip. Motorcycles, a funeral, and tractor transport. I visited friends, family, had some great food, and rode some great roads. It was good to get home, though.

Postscript on the tractor: I did get it running in order to get it off the trailer. This took a couple hours of work, some fresh fuel, some air in the tires (one still goes flat in about 20 minutes) and an overnight battery charge. The 8N is in rough shape, and will need many hours of work and several hundred dollars in repairs to get it in reliable and working shape. Biggest issues are tires and wheels; both back rims are rusted through and need to be replaced, and the tires are shot. (Ever price tractor tires? Sticker shock! A pair of rear wheels and rims will run about $1,200.00) Still, it was good to hear it run, which gives me hope that the other repairs will eventually be justified.

Next time: The Land Hunt continues with another trip…

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!