Odyssey for the Soul

I was gonna stop at Castaways on my way north (cause I figured I have a bike, I might as well act the part, right?) but they didn't open till 1pm, so I went to get lunch at the Whately Dinner instead. A truck stop is good enough.

Then I went to my insurance agent in Sunderland (I used to live there so it was convenient, and they are nice people so I stayed with them). I got myself the maximum health coverage they offered. Motorcycle insurance is dirt cheap I gotta say.

Then, still following route 5, I went up to Greenfield to Chrispy and Michelle's place. I looked at motorcycle parts in Chris's catalog. Gonna have to order some gear... Then I followed route 2 to route 63. Or at least that was the intent...

You see, I had gassed the bike up yesterday, and I wanted to learn how many miles I could go on a full tank (sounds like a valid thing to learn before going on a long road trip, no?). Now, for those of you who don't are ignorant to all things 'bike' (as I was a few days ago), most bikes have a reserve setting on their gas tank. You run out of gas, you flip it to reserve and you get to the nearest gas station ASAP. So, I'm on route 2, about 2 miles from route 63 and I run out of gas. No problem, I pull over to the side of the road, flip the tank to reserve and... nada. I try a few more time. Nada. The starter is starting to tire out, so I stop. I call Chris (the nearest bike knowledgeable person I know) to see what I'm forgetting to do. Well, it was supposed to work... I try shaking the tank to get what little gas is there to go. Nada. The starter is really starting to feel tired now so I shut down the bike while Chris figures out how to get gas to me (his car needs to be jumped).

Long story short, my bike went 234 miles on a full tank and I don't have a functional reserve on my tank. Chris got me some gas (thankyouthankyouthankyou) and I got back on the road. The lesson hear is: refill every 200 miles. By the way, that's some good gas mileage. The tank is about 4 and half gallons is 52 miles/gallon, a good 2/3 of that being the stop and go miles I did yesterday.

So, I get onto route 63 (and stall again, arg!) and work my way down towards Amherst. An SUV starts tailgating me. Now, this is annoying in a car, but it is scarry on a bike. I signaled the driver to back up a few times and he finally took the hint and gave me some space. I gave him a thumbs up and he followed me at a safe distance the rest of the way. That was nice.

I stopped to say hi to Carol in Amherst when I got there, and ran into Josh when I was leaving. I love people oogling my bike... she is a beauty...

Then it was down 116 to South Hadley, and back up route 5 to Jonathan and Allison's house. Then back to Jake's before dark.

All told, I put another 200 miles on her today, and I can take my right turns almost perfectly, even from a stop sign now.